Silent Melody
by Cynical-Banshee
Summary: There is a certain beauty to sacrifice, and the love it brings. Kyou/Homu. R&R? (Now complete!)
1. Part 1: Deepening Colors

Chapter 1: Deepening Colors

The red ribbon twined around the crown of Homura's head snapped lightly against the back of her neck in the gripping wind as the girl sat crouched behind a stone outcropping, observing the thickening miasma a number of stories below her feet. The air around her skin sank its frigid teeth into her, but the girl easily shrugged it off. Conditions which would have inconvenienced others were but common acquaintances to her environment now; countless nights had been burned away slinking through the freezing night sky.

"It seems you aren't capable of personally manufacturing every explosive on the market," A hunched, shrouded shadow remarked, hidden from the moon's influence so that only its gleaming red eyes shone through.

Homura finished priming her shield and tucked her hair behind her ear before glancing unfeelingly at her companion. "No, I could. But there wouldn't be enough time to actually put them to use if I put the effort in."

Shifting her weight, she rose to her feet and observed the building sitting across the alley. It was a broad, flat warehouse, generally one with the darkness save for a few dimly glowing lights within. It was a Yakuza hideout, one of many scattered throughout the city. Homura had an unavoidable reason to have an interest in this particular location tonight, but she usually would have stayed away from areas where potential conflicts could erupt and force her to expend unnecessary energy.

A wry smile tugged at the corners of the magical girl's lips. _Kyubey is rubbing off on me. _She laughed at it now, but at times when the night crowded around her, suffocating and unforgiving, Homura lamented the gradual withering of her own humanity. Her existence had once been entirely comprised of objectives and means to various ends, and even in this new universe which Madoka's desires had manufactured, such a fate continued to haunt her. When she had first begun to leap back in time to rewrite another's demise, she had begun to consider Kyubey's race to be the very antithesis to her own.

Now she could only watch as she became more and more like an Incubator.

Breathing heavily through her nose and shaking her head to clear the vindicating thoughts, Homura raised her shield arm so Kyubey could leap up onto her shoulder. Once she felt the weight of the alien's mass on her person, the Incubator's voice spoke into her ear.

"True enough. More and more demons are appearing every night. Taking a break to gather supplies today will mean more work tomorrow."

"Well, you'll have to manage," Homura replied blandly as she crouched as to more effectively spread her wings. "You wouldn't want me dying simply from running out of equipment, would you?"

"That would set our energy collecting schedule back significantly," The white skinned creature admitted, as its contractee's back shimmered for a moment and produced two widely bearing wings. Leaping down from the ledge she had been occupying, the girl allowed herself only one strong, stealthy buffet to keep herself from striking against the pavement below. Landing soundlessly on her toes, Homura readied her shield and checked both ends of the alley for any witnesses. Finding none, she set her jaw and reached up to begin scaling the side of the warehouse.

Kyubey's weight on her shoulder made the climb require a modicum more exertion, but she didn't find it inconvenient enough to evict the creature. The alien seemed to enjoy observing her fighting and stealth techniques, apparently rather intrigued by the concept of battling through the manipulation of time, and Homura was willing to accommodate for this to a certain extent. After all, she no longer had a reason to hide the secrets and advantages of her magic.

Not since then.

Flexing her gloved hands, Homura launched herself upwards and seized the edge of the warehouse's scaffolding. She could have used her abilities to simply fly to the top of the building, but such a move would have attracted too much attention, and she was more than aware of the Yakuza's habits of being overprotective of their merchandise. She had even had to reduce the amounts of weapons she stole during raids, because if even a slight discrepancy was noticed security would be tripled during the next infiltration. Just another complication among many.

_Two months._ Homura swung her leg over the ledge of the roof at last and hauled herself atop the warehouse, feeling her arm hairs prickle where they met the frozen metal. Two months since she had awoken in a restructured universe, the sole individual who was aware that such a change had ever taken place. Two months since she had first seen the red ribbons pooling in her hands and realized the extent of her friend's sacrifice. Two months before witches were removed from the fabric of existence, thus ceasing the endless cycle of despair and curses which had taken Miki Sayaka from them.

Picking her way across the flat steel surface, Homura reached one of the skylights and peeked over the edge of the opening to observe the situation. She had actually been surprised for a moment to note the turning of a month for the first time in what had to have been eternity; she had spent a thousand lifetimes trying to break the cycle by preventing Madoka's death, a stretch so long that the very concept of time had shrunk to encompass only the single month in which she had worked in. Thus, being able to wake up one morning and actually turn the page on her calendar had felt oddly surreal to her.

Normalcy had become an anomaly.

It had also forced her to accept the current circumstances. As Homura eyed the various guards patrolling the warehouse's confines with clubs and bats slung lazily over their shoulders, she remembered the promise that had been made to her before the very fabric of reality had been twisted and torn apart. A promise that she and Madoka would meet again, despite being on different planes of existence, despite the fact that her best friend had become nothing greater than a concept, the concept of hope itself.

It was a vow Homura knew she couldn't trust, no matter who it may have come from. The world never allowed for such miracles.

Waiting until no guards were watching the specific area under the skylight, she slipped through the opening and landed softly on the mesh walkways criss crossing just under the roof. Keeping low to obscure her profile, the time user slipped down the ladders under she reached ground level, darting to hide behind a pile of sturdy crates. There were only about five lights overhead to light the massive interior, the lack of illumination giving the rusted walls a sickly, seething look. Breaking cover to roll behind another pile of boxes, Homura waited until Kyubey caught up to her to eavesdrop of the guards' conversations.

"The boss is too fucking paranoid, if you ask me," A gruff voice complained from somewhere down the side.

"I don't totally disagree with you, but it's not like anybody's going to convince him to let up a little," Another voice responded. Keeping careful track of the distance of the voices, Homura murmured, "Don't let go," To Kyubey before activating her shield's magic.

Her surroundings immediately froze, although the chance was not especially noticeable as nothing had really been moving to begin with. All color of all spectrum's were drained from the environment, leaving everything black and gray around her as the girl jammed the rim of her shield into the lid of a box and began to pry it open. Homura had wondered at first as to why all of her surroundings lost their hues when she froze time; after some consideration, she had concluded that since time had been stopped, the light wavelengths around her must have as well. An object's color was usually determined by the speed of the wavelengths it gave off through light, so when all movement was halted all color would flee as well.

[_Why not just drive out the guards and claim this entire stash for yourself?] _Kyubey questioned through his telepathy. If the inquiry had come from anybody, no, any_thing_ else, she would have considered it an attempt to goad her into an evil deed. But this was Kyubey, and it was obvious that the remark had only been made out of a desire for practicality.

[_I don't want to hurt them. Besides, I don't need so much,] _Homura replied curtly as she reached into the now open crate and began scooping flash grenades into a sack she had brought along with her.

[_Perhaps not now, but all this equipment could last you for years,] _Kyubey pressed as it glanced about at the mountains of boxes around them. [_I'm sure it'll end up being worth the expense of only a few individuals.]_

_[Human life is a value, not a statistic,] _Homura replied without attempting to press her own points. She had given up on trying to comprehend or revert the alien's mindset long ago. The culture and civilization Kyubey hailed from was different from theirs in every imaginable aspect. Truly, an antithesis to humanity.

She couldn't see it, but Homura imagined the white creature blinking its blank ruby eyes. [_Values can change.]_

Deciding that she wouldn't deign to answer that reversal, Homura tied her sack closed and replaced the lid on the now empty crate. The Yakuza probably wouldn't notice this one little theft. Checking her time and realizing she was running out of it, she quickly crept back up to the skylight and pulled herself onto the rooftop before allowing her powers to recede.

It was like the entire world had let out a breath it was holding. It did, in a way, as the wind was released and ran swiftly by her ear again. The cars rolling past her resumed their journeys, and colors slowly returned to paint the vivid portrait of reality. Standing still for a moment, Homura allowed herself a moment to readjust. Returning from time-freeze always made her realize that there was no such thing as complete and utter inactivity. The universe itself was always moving, seething, vibrating.

Suddenly feeling like a great weight had spontaneously accumulated upon her shoulders, Homura caved in and allowed her shoulders to sag momentarily. Madoka's wish had broken the malicious cycle, but this had only been replaced by a lesser evil.

_When will this end?_ Her mind began to break free of its usual self confinement. She had found that the best way to evade the more entrapping conclusions of her life was to not think about them; but no one could even deny that they were always there, lurking beneath the surface. Ready to break her.

Flexing her knees, she leapt to the adjacent building, Kyubey bounding after her. A burning sun broke the cloud cover and began its steady rise over the horizon to her right, bleeding its rays over the sluggish cityscape. The abrupt brightness caused Homura to squint and turn her head in the opposite direction, forcing her to look at the parts of the city still wrapped in the night's arms.

There, the magical girl thought as she took in the vapor curling lazily upwards from a smokestack, was what she was fighting to protect. This world, or perhaps more specifically this city, and all its inhabitants which Madoka had sacrificed herself for. Homura felt no affection towards her home herself; many of her fellow demon hunters may have criticized her for battling not for her own desires, but another's.

Initially, she had felt utterly alone at the realization that only she herself retained any reputable memories of Madoka. Then she had realized that her isolation paled in juxtaposition to her friend's; Homura was not completely isolated in her suffering. Madoka was.

Blinking hard and running a couple fingers through her long black mane to calm herself, Homura said, "Let's go," To Kyubey before unfurling her wings and taking off into the night sky.

* * *

><p>Homura could feel her heart rate immediately relaxing when her fingers brushed across the worn wood of her front door, pushing open the entrance to slip inside. Her residence was a tall, narrow building sitting between a Y-intersection within an area of the city which had missed the recent wave of urban redevelopment. She could see the vast, reaching arcs of the city's more advanced regions over the rooftops from her second story window, but the immediate neighborhood around her was more rugged. Retro-modern, she used to call it.<p>

Her own building was designed in what might have been called a Victorian style, but Homura couldn't claim to possess any particular knowledge in architecture. That was one regret she had; what with battling demons, keeping up with surveillance and trying to grasp the implications of the restructured universe, there was hardly any free time for even a minuscule devotion to her education. She worked hard enough to earn passable grades, but she never achieved anything spectacular. Homura knew it was best to lurk under the radar, anyway. Despite her desires.

The familiar atmosphere wreathed around her when she entered the hall and shut the door behind her, plunging everything into darkness. Reaching out to her side, she flicked a switch and waited as the lights fixed to the ceiling flickered to life. Finally, Homura let her guard down as she shrugged off her jacket and kicked off her shoes, setting them neatly by the entrance before treading deeper within her domain.

This building had always been of great comfort to her. She had been set up here a very long time ago, long before she had ever met Madoka or heard of the Puella Magi. It had been a massive relief when she had first leapt back in time to be able to return to something she recognized. Throughout all the timelines and various universes, her home had remained one of the few constants. It was her command centre, a place for planning, a place to retreat to.

The walls around her widened considerably as she entered the central room. A broad, sturdy table sat between two semicircular couches, which in turn was surrounded by even larger ones. Yet the most notable feature of her room was, of course, the multitude of screens fixed to the walls, or even hanging around the edges of the interior, each one displaying its own special brand of information. A few were dedicated to watching the area around her building, wired directly to security cameras hidden to inform her of any unwanted visitors, but the vast majority were there to supply information on her targets.

Kyubey stalked out of the shadows at the corner of the room and leapt atop the table, sitting back on its haunches to take in the sight. "You've gathered a considerable amount of information," The alien observed.

Homura took a seat on the inner couch and leaned back on one of her hands. "Yes. I haven't been able to deduce any patterns in the demons' appearances, though. They appear to be totally randomized."

The white creature turned its egg-shaped head and glanced at another screen. "This is..." He began to say.

She finished it for him. "The hunting patterns of the other two," She supplied, by which she meant Mami and Kyouko.

If it had been capable of it, Kyubey would have frowned. "Why are you tracking their movements? It doesn't benefit you in any way."

"I have an obligation to protect them," Homura said without emotion. She wanted to ensure Kyubey understood that monitoring Mami and Kyouko was also part of their mission, but she didn't want to appear overly sentimental about it, either. After all, the Incubators' race didn't value expression.

"Does this have to do with your theory again?" Kyubey asked her, cocking its head in her direction.

"It's not a theory," Homura insisted. Honestly, she didn't even know why she tried to convince the white rat about the alternate reality only she remembered. Even she herself had to admit that it seemed entirely implausible that such a thing had ever taken place. But Madoka _was_ real, and her memories were real, and Homura had long since decided never to fully trust anyone but herself.

Kyubey twisted its body and lay on its back, showing a smooth white underbelly. "I'm not implying that such a thing never could have taken place. It is entirely possible. But the likelihood is extremely microscopic, not to mention that there is no evidence around to suggest such a happening."

"You told me yourself that she elevated herself onto an entirely different existential scale after making that wish," Homura replied. "Even you would have to admit that the very existence of magical girls defies logic. So why couldn't one become a god?"

The alien crouching on her table picked itself back up and turned to face her fully. "Again, it isn't entirely impossible. But what does it matter now? If this Madoka you speak of really exists as a god, we no longer have anything to do with her."

"This has everything to do with her," Homura reversed, allowing her natural frown to cut a little deeper into her face. "Her sacrifice is the entire reason why I'm fighting. It's the driving force behind every arrow I fire and every demon I slay."

Kyubey shook itself and looked back at the screen displaying Mami and Kyouko's movement patterns. "Is that why you choose to watch over them?"

"Yes. I was never particularly fond of either of them, but Madoka chose to breathe life back into their bodies. I won't let that go to waste."

"What will you do, then?" The white creature countered, floundering its voluminous tail to emphasize its inquiry. "Recruit them to fight by your side? There is a reason why the three of you drifted apart, after all."

Unfortunately, Homura could not dispute that. In the wake of Miki Sayaka's death, there had been a great conflict among the three who remained. Mami and Kyouko had struggled initially to accept the blue haired girl's passing, but Homura, who had already experienced the tragedy long ago, had not been as easily effected. No, she was more preoccupied with coping with the idea that her best friend had become a concept, an idea.

While her companions obviously didn't completely understand the reasoning behind her lack of mourning, they understood enough to take offense. And Kyouko, being the most passionate of them all, had risen to her feet, driven by her rage, regret and confusion, and seized Homura by the collar. Why wasn't she mourning? Why didn't she care? What could possibly be so important as to eclipse the loss of their friend? How could you call yourself human? Homura had looked back at the redhead's eyes, seen the angry questions thrashing within them, and despaired upon realizing that she could never answer them. It had become clear to her at that moment that no one else solidly remembered Madoka.

Self justification had become an impossibility.

That incident had been the beginning of the end. Only more questions followed Homura afterwards. Why did she shirk away from them as if they were ghosts? Why did she grow so uneasy whenever her Soul Gem was on the verge of shattering, when they could simply be replaced? Why couldn't she tell them where those red ribbons had come from?

_Because you died! Because before, it meant the end. Because you would never believe me, _Homura had screamed at them in her head with every accusation, every suspicious probe. She had managed to bring up the topic of Madoka only once, and it had been brushed off as "a bullshit excuse," by Kyouko. The rift between herself and the other two, which had at this point become quite literally universal, became too much of a hindrance during hunting sessions. Even Mami began to scrutinize the odd nature of Homura's abilities; how was she so particularly strong, and where had the wings come from? What had already been an uneasy alliance quickly soured under such circumstances.

So she had begun to take kills on her own. She no longer waited at designated rendezvous points for her companions, instead opting to work alone. From an objective standpoint, this was actually beneficial; fighting alongside Mami and Kyouko had had its advantages, but ultimately the pairing had slowed her down. Homura knew this conclusion should have satisfied her, but it only wrenched the emptiness inside her heart a little bit wider. Firstly, it meant that she was neglecting Madoka's sacrifice by not watching over those she had chosen to save.

And secondly...secondly, it meant that now she was truly, and utterly, alone.

The realization had almost broken her. Over the countless time leaps, Homura had learned how to steel her emotions to almost any sort of trauma, but now that her mission was completed the girl's mental resolve had crumbled somewhat. This allowed for the softer, _fleshier_ version of herself to emerge more prominently in her actions. The timid, compliant Homura who had always been so naive and faithful.

She had walked away from her companions in a storm of confusion. In her frustration, Homura had genuinely wondered why Madoka had chosen to save such individuals, even if they were fellow Puella Magi. She had set herself on a path to exist separately from them by choosing to leave their company rather than flesh out their issues. Yet there were nights when, in the back of her mind, the magical girl had considered the fact that she may have been mistaken in her judgement.

_Impossible,_ she had dismissed initially. How could she, who was vastly more experienced and aware of the situation, be in the wrong? Yet there was always the nagging question. Madoka may have been naive, but she was not foolish. Her best friend must have seen some particular worth in Mami and Kyouko to salvage their souls. And so, after months of deliberating and backtracking, Homura had decided to try and resolve her ties to her companions. Partly to prevent Madoka's wish from being for naught.

Partly to satiate her own curiosity.

"The reason why we broke apart was a lack of communication," Homura said at last firmly. "I failed to explain myself properly to them, and I can't blame anybody for reacting negatively to that. If I go back and fix our misunderstandings, I don't expect any additional obstacles."

Kyubey just offered back its usual blank stare. "Whatever you say. As long as I get to do my job. Just remember, the lives of two Puella Magi aren't worth the battle against entropy." The white creature leapt deftly off the table it had been occupying and padded along the slick ivory floor to leave, only to pause as if a thought had occurred to it. Then, shaking its head, the alien murmured, "I never will comprehend your race," Before melding into the shadows.

_The feeling is entirely mutual._

Rising from her seat, Homura walked across the room to go to bed. It had been a long day; rest was always a requirement. She paused for a moment at the door, glancing at the axe-like pendulum making its endless courses through the air, and was reminded of the difference between a constant and an inevitability.

Flicking the lights off, she retired for the night.

* * *

><p>The sound of scratching pencils dominated the airspace as the class worked at the test which had been distributed to them. Homura, who had completed the exam several minutes prior, sat observing her peers think while waiting for the period to end. She was occupying her customary seat in the second row, meaning she could only stare at so many people without turning around and looking ridiculous. She had always been the type to favor the back end of the classroom, actually, but such a placement would worsen her grades which were so difficult to maintain to begin with. Homura was simply glad demons did not appear during the mornings or afternoons. That would have certainly wreaked havoc on her schedule.<p>

Finally losing interest in her classmates, the magical girl turned her head and looked out the window. It was a beautiful day, featuring a vibrant sun and few clouds to speak of. However, she enjoyed the sight for different reasons than most. More sunlight meant less demons.

Glancing back at the students chewing their pencils intensely beside her, Homura briefly wondered what they were all planning to do once school let out. She had never been particularly popular, previously due to her shy disposition and currently because of her cold, aloof one. However, she knew better than to isolate her classmates. Complete alienation was an excellent breeding ground for resentment. She had been made aware of this in the very first timeline, where her inability to speak to others, be proactive and general aura of helplessness had earned her a fair share of enemies. Only Madoka's interference had stemmed the bullying.

No, she never forcibly isolated herself from her classmates, but she never involved herself with them either. She replied in kind whenever a "good morning" or "see you tomorrow" was sent her way, but she also made sure to politely refuse any invitations to hangouts or gatherings until most others knew simply not to ask her. She was genuinely aloof but not resented, respected but not sought after. To Homura, this was the perfect balance. Her teachers didn't expect her to excel, but they knew she wouldn't fail either. Some of the boys in various grades had even begun to refer to her as the [Final Boss], the "lone unconquerable girl" of the school, a prospect Homura had found amusing enough to not put a stop to.

Her spiel of thoughts were broken when the bell rang, signaling the beginning of lunch period. Gathering her things, Homura waited until her desk folded back into the floor before leaving the room. Normally, she would have taken her time, but today the girl had a mission.

_Mami usually eats in the garden area,_ Homura remembered as she brushed past the multitude of teenagers bustling through the halls, making her way towards her shoe locker. _I'll have to catch her before her friends come and mob her._

It was true. Despite her similar status as a Puella Magi, Mami Tomoe seemingly had zero difficulties with her social standing. Peers and underclassmen alike seemed inclined to flock towards the accommodating blonde, most likely due to her naturally benevolent disposition. Homura was not entirely sure if her senpai actually went out and spent time with the multitude of friends she had, but she seriously doubted it. Not with the obligations they both bore.

Personally, Homura disapproved of the blonde's decision to actively seek out and maintain friendships. Such ties could only become liabilities and obstacles to their true mission later. But that had never been any of her business, so she had never offered a rebuke, even before. Then the girl remembered she was about to make it her business, and sighed. She may have clashed significantly with Kyouko and their polar opposites in ideals, but Mami Tomoe would always irk her for different reasons.

Homura was so absorbed in thinking about her plans that she didn't notice the little white note falling out of her locker until she had shut it and was about to walk away. Catching the movement out of the corner of her eye, however, the black haired girl stooped over and retrieved the paper. She frowned thoughtfully at it, unable to recall any recent events which may have initiated such a happening. Who could it possibly be from?

Deciding it was best to be cautious, she waited until the locker halls emptied completely of students before unfolding the note. Her eyes took in neat, somewhat stylish handwriting, but it couldn't be said for sure whether another girl had laid them down. The paper itself was blank aside from its contents.

_Meet me on the school roof when you read this. I would like to talk to you about something._

Homura reread the note three, four, five times. Still uncovered no clues as to who the messenger may be. Pursing her lips, she tore up the note and tossed the remains into the trash. Whatever the occasion was, she couldn't allow it to distract her from her current objective.

The girl was about to slip into her shoes and leave in pursuit of Mami when a thought occurred to her.

What if it was from Mami?

Due to their split, as well as the natural barrier between senpai and kouhai, it had become nearly impossible for the two of them to interact with each other during school hours. Plus, Tomoe seemed the type to go around leaving obscure messages in people's shoe lockers.

Stopping in her tracks, Homura turned and looked back at the disposal bin she had thrown the note into. Was it worth taking a chance? The blonde may have something truly dire to tell her, and if this was true she didn't want to waste time searching for her in the gardens. After a moment's contemplation, Homura set her jaw and changed her course, now heading deeper into the school, towards the staircases.

The steel steps clacked loudly beneath her heeled shoes as the girl climbed. There was an elevator to the roof, but it was reserved for staff and those with severe handicaps. She could have used her magic to freeze time before making it to the roof, thus saving precious minutes, but decided to save her energy for that night's hunting.

_Let's just hope I didn't make a mistake._

Her eyes detecting sunlight streaming through a window above her, and soon she reached the door to the roof. Walking up to the bar, Homura hesitated for a moment before steeling herself and pushing it open. She couldn't totally refute the truth of what Kyubey had said; rekindling her relationship with another magical girl would only place a greater burden upon her shoulders later. But it was a weight Homura was willing to bear if it was part of the cause she fought for.

The hinges creaked softly as they yielded before her, the opening letting in a light breeze that stirred the lips of her long locks. Slipping through and letting the door fall shut behind her, Homura cast about for the true sender of the message, expecting to at least see a person of interest.

What she got instead went totally against her expectations.

A boy. A _boy._ Standing leaning against the fencing with an incredibly nervous expression painted across his countenance, arms hiding something behind his back. They made eye contact over the distance which separated them, and Homura was astonished to see a flush dominate the boy's face. Licking his lips in an apparent effort to gather himself, her peer made to close the space between them.

Homura waited until the boy reached her, mind silently racing behind a stony expression. What in the world was this? Even if the note's writer didn't happen to be Mami, she had at least expected it to be Kyouko, or perhaps even Kyubey...

Leave. She had to leave. Whatever the boy's intentions were, she didn't have time to tangle herself within them. Her heels her were just beginning to twist into the concrete when a voice called out to her.

"A-Akemi-san. I...didn't think you'd actually come."

_Damn,_ Homura thought. Even now, there probably wouldn't be any severe consequences if she simply ignored those words and left through the door, but she also couldn't be sure that this boy wouldn't make a big issue out of it to his friends. Rumors were the last thing she needed swirling around her.

Turning back to the boy, who she recognized as Takanashi-san from her homeroom class, she forced what she hoped looked like a warm smile, although it probably came out more as a grimace. "Ah...well, of course I did. You sent me a note, after all."

Inwardly, Homura was kicking herself viciously. It had indeed been foolish to alternate her plans simply to answer a summoning from someone who couldn't even sign the letters he sent. Her rationale told her that she shouldn't be so eager to escape the atmosphere, seeing as it was now far to late to catch Mami before others did. Still, it was her paltry social skills which frightened her. She could handle spontaneous conversations in the classroom, but here, alone with Takanashi on the roof...the girl was truly at a total loss.

Takanashi laughed awkwardly at the comment, though Homura hadn't found it amusing in the slightest. "Well...yes, I do suppose that makes sense." An unbearable silence settled in around them.

Realizing finally that it was up to her to kickstart the conversation, Homura flicked her eyes down at the boy's elbows and asked, "So...you called me here for a reason?"

He started at the question, apparently just remembering the thing he was hiding behind his back. Regaining a bit of his flush, Takanashi replied, "Oh...yes, of course. I just wanted to tell you something, Homura..."

Her ears twitched at the sudden use of her given name, feeling the odd sensation in her stomach intensify. She was fervently hoping that this wasn't going to end the way she thought it would, but evidence didn't particularly favor this prayer.

Blinking hard, Takanashi took a few steps back before abruptly bowing down at the waist. Pulling his hands out, the boy revealed the box of chocolates he had been hiding and cried out, "I've always admired you, Homura-san! Please accept my feelings!"

Despite having braced herself for the impact, she couldn't help herself from feeling at the very least exasperated by the confession. Even if Homura already knew she would have to reject him, the situation itself was more than enough to constitute complete embarrassment. She was again tempted to activate her time-freeze, if only to grant herself a few minutes to think over her reaction, but her magic wasn't really worth utilizing at the moment.

Realizing that Takanashi was still feverishly awaiting her response, Homura closed her eyes and let her familiar stone cold countenance descend upon her. Then, parting her lips, she said, "I appreciate how you feel about me, Takanashi-san..."

The boy looked up, eyes shining with hope.

"...But I'm afraid I can't accept your feelings."

Crushed. Homura knew she should have felt pity but didn't, knowing that her response was best for both of them. Struggling with his words for a moment, Takanashi stood back up before mumbling,

"Is there...a particular reason why?"

She hated lying to people. "I'm...just not in the position to have that sort of relationship with anyone right now," She said levelly, distributing enough emotion into her words to avoid coming off as uncaring, but still maintaining an unbiased tone. "I'm busy with family affairs, and...it just wouldn't work out as things are at the moment. I'm sorry."

The boy standing before her didn't say anything back. Homura wondered for a moment if she had failed in her diplomacy, and if the cursory looks and hushed whispers would be waiting for her at homeroom the next morning. In spite of her efforts to end this interaction peacefully, Homura truly cared very little for Takanashi's infatuation. And she called it infatuation because it would be ridiculous for the boy to feel genuine love towards her. It was unlikely that he himself was aware of this, though, and she preferred to avoid social land mines.

Finally, the dreaded moment of silence passed when Takanashi raised his head and surprised Homura by offering a bright smile. "Well, it can't be helped, then," He said with a nonchalant shrug. "I suppose there must be someone else, eh?"

He said it jokingly, but Homura could only blink and turn to look up at the clouds, as if there was someone there to stare back down. "I...suppose you could say that," She murmured.

The boy tried to follow her gaze but failed. "He must be an amazing guy," He said back softly.

Homura thought she saw wings in the cloud patterns above. "Yes...on a completely different level than either of us."

A bit thrown off by this final comment, Takanashi produced another smile and bowed his head slightly before saying, "Thank you for your time," before disappearing down the steps.

She watched his retreating form until it was gone. A refusal on her part may have been inevitable, but the boy had taken it well, considering how cold she must have sounded. She respected him for that.

Walking to the edge of the concrete, Homura gripped the wire mesh of the fence and observed the sprawling campus below her. Her school hadn't completely escaped the industrial developments of the past decade, but the director had insisted on keeping an organic environment for his students. As such, there were no towering mechanical buildings or drones patrolling the halls within the boundaries of the campus. Instead there were vast gardens and classrooms with wide windows to let the sunlight in.

Homura spotted Mami sitting on a bench surrounded by a small grove of roses, chatting amiably with her friends. The black haired girl felt another twinge of annoyance at the sight. How could her upperclassman spend idle time concerning herself with ordinary people? Homura didn't despise normal individuals herself, but she would much rather plan that night's hunt in her head than discuss the latest fashion trend with another girl who was painfully oblivious to the true cruelty of the world.

She had always known it, but now the evidence sat squarely before her; Mami was dangerously self indulgent. Someone who desperately clung to the last shreds of her humanity rather than simply noting its departure. It wasn't that Homura entirely blamed Tomoe for wanting to blend in. But that didn't mean either of them should pursue it. If not to herself, the truth behind the blonde's smiling face would only bring detriment to innocents.

_A person who never stops to question her own beliefs. _Admittedly, she was nitpicking at Mami's specific faults. She knew that the blonde's strong sense of justice wasn't necessarily a bad thing; not anymore at least. She just saw too keenly that the older girl's morals were tied too closely to her naiveté. Mami put up a strong front, but countless hours of observation had gleaned the information that she was easily affected by her surroundings. Homura remembered all too well the time when Mami had lost her resolve and killed Kyouko, Madoka's own arrow the only thing keeping herself from perishing as well. And as the bolt had shattered the blonde's Soul Gem, Homura had seen the broken look in her eyes.

Fragile as spun glass.

As the lunch bell rang then to signal the end of the break period, she realized the difference between herself and her senpai.

She had flatly rejected the confession.

Mami would have considered it.

It was this which made Homura fear for her.

* * *

><p>The gravel crunched uneasily beneath her shoes, as if the very earth were begging her to turn back.<p>

Looking up, she squinted and raised a hand to shield her eyes from the piercing sun above. The buildings on her left and right were tall and narrow, allowing only the strongest rays of illumination to force their way through. She was currently walking through the southern most region of Mitakihara, an area which had become subject to an unfortunate series of failed construction projects. Abandoned, half erected skyscrapers and twisting back alleys riddled the district, winding their way around thinly packed apartments. It reminded Homura of her own neighborhood, just less...quaint.

Unsettling.

A perfect breeding ground for demons.

Otherwise known as Sakura Kyouko's territory.

She obviously wouldn't have chosen this method in the beginning, preferring to make amends with Mami and then have the blonde convince a certain redhead for her. She had failed to reach the upperclassman during school, however, and waiting wasn't an option with the beginning of winter just around the corner. Meaning she would have to pursue the more..._unsavory_ route.

Homura knew very well that she was being watched from the rooftops above, but either didn't care or chose not to react as the girl continued making her way into the depths of the construction sites. She wanted to get as far away from the apartments as possible before initiating any sort of confrontation; involving citizens would be a major inconvenience.

All the while, she felt the weight of the eyes boring into her back as the black haired girl still refused to turn around and cast about for her pursuer. Kyouko knew just as well that if they were going to face each other, privacy was paramount.

Homura finally found a location to her satisfaction when she turned a corner and found one of the abandoned projects. The workers, by now long gone, had managed to set up the metal beams which would have acted as the supports for what seemed to be an office building. Whether her guess was on the mark or not, the structure was several stories tall, the sturdy plexisteel beams standing resolute.

She kept walking until she had completely entered the construction site before at last stopping and turning to face her stalker.

The other party also knew that it was time to emerge from the shadows. A dark red blur appeared at the top of one of the nearby rooftops, before instantly vanishing only to reappear right in front of Homura in the form of Sakura Kyouko. Homura duly noted the highly irritated look on the older girl's face and blandly hoped this wouldn't end badly.

"You've got some guts, showing your face here," The redhead snarled as she twirled her spear menacingly in one hand. The pastor's daughter was already dressed in her magical girl garb, her calf length overcoat fluttering ominously from the wind generated by the rotating weapon. Homura briefly considered transforming into her own Puella Magi form but decided against this, thinking it would suggest hostility.

Doing her best to relax her stance, the black haired girl replied tonelessly, "Thank you. I came to talk, if you would indulge me."

Kyouko hissed at her instead, readjusting her grip on her weapon. "Look, I don't give two shits about what you might have come here to talk about. This is my turf. Get out of it. Now."

Homura closed her eyes and gritted her teeth upon seeing that time had not healed the wounds of their last encounter. Still, she refused to turn back now. She had already failed on Mami's end. Opening her eyes, the girl replied, "I didn't realize territory was so important anymore. After all, there are only three notable Puella Magi in this city. Not to mention that you and Mami are working together...or has that changed?"

Kyouko started at the last bit of her sentence and blinked rapidly before sharpening her gaze again. Baring her unnaturally sharp teeth, the older girl growled, "That isn't any of your business anymore, unless you for whatever reason believe _that_ has changed. The three of us will never work together again. Isn't that what you said?"

The redhead wasn't lying, and Homura hated her for it. Meeting those crimson irises with her own fathomless ones, she said, "I didn't realize you placed so much faith in my words."

Kyouko had had enough at this point. With a flick of her wrist, the girl unchained her spear and whipped it upwards until the razor sharp tip was hovering, resting against the soft exposed flesh of Homura's throat. Taking a few steps forward, but making sure to keep a minimum distance between them to avoid any possible explosives, she spat out,

"If you think I'll forgive you for what you did to me, you're grossly mistaken. This isn't something you can solve with a simple halfhearted apology. And seeing as you apparently aren't here to fight, I'm assuming your objective is to at least ask something of me. Well, whatever that thing is, you aren't getting it. So go home before I take your head!"

At this, Homura's last fleeting hopes of settling the matter diplomatically spluttered and died out. The old feelings of frustration began to rise within her again. She may be trying to undo it now, but there had been a reason why she had left the redhead's company to begin with. Sakura Kyouko was self blinded, arrogant, and selfish for all the wrong reasons. Suddenly, her fingers itched to reach for her Soul Gem and prepare herself for a _proper_ conflict, the idea of _forcing_ the older girl to listen her to suddenly becoming rather appealing.

Then she caught the sorrow hiding behind the rage in Kyouko's eyes, and realized she was totally unjustified in her thoughts. The redhead was right: this wasn't something she could resolve with an offhanded attitude. Homura might not have been aware of it after waking up to find herself in a new world, but in this universe, Kyouko had trusted her. Despite the countless clashes they had had with each other, regardless of whether the redhead remembered them or not, she had trusted her.

And Homura had blatantly betrayed that faith.

Still, she couldn't turn back. To do so would be a betrayal to Madoka as well. It might have been ironic on her part, but Homura didn't trust Kyouko to keep herself safe.

"I wouldn't try to come off as so intimidating, if I were in your position," She murmured back. "You obviously remember how our last encounter ended."

Eyes going wide at the veiled offense, Kyouko shouted, "Shut up!", drawing back her spear and swinging it full force with every intention of taking her opponent's neck off. Homura, having successfully broken free, leapt backwards and landed soundlessly on her toes while the redhead unchained her spear again and lashed it at her side, giving it the appearance of a whip with a massive barb at its tip.

"Are you here to talk to me or fuck with me?" Kyouko snarled.

"I'm open to suggestions," Homura replied blandly, reaching behind her to palm a violet Soul Gem, a clear warning that violence was imminent. It had been decided that she had no choice; if Kyouko wouldn't listen when she asked politely, she would force her to.

The redhead narrowed her eyes and settled into a more stable fighting stance, but Homura saw the nervousness playing across her fingers. They may be in the older Puella Magi's turf, thus giving her some sort of advantage, but they were both aware that in a straight even fight Homura was likely to emerge victorious. Still, it was obvious neither one of the girls were willing to back down now. Homura for Madoka. Kyouko for her pride.

It was time to test which one was stronger.

Setting her jaw and willing the power within her Soul Gem to escape, the black haired girl let a dazzling light engulf her form, the display dissipating to reveal her dressed in magical girl garb. An aura of crackling energy infused the air as her pitch black bow materialized and fell to rest comfortably in a practiced hand, while the other reached up to draw and nock a humming arrow into the string.

Setting her shield, Homura waited.

Digging her heels into the crumbly dirt to gain better leverage, Kyouko launched herself high into the air, putting all of her leg strength into leaping far enough to close the gap between them. Descending upon her target like an enraged hawk, she chained her spear and swung for Homura's head. The younger girl ripped her shield upwards and parried to blow solidly, a loud _clang_ resounding through the air as the two weapons collided with considerable force.

Kyouko didn't give her opponent any time to recover. Absorbing the shock, she landed squarely in front of the shorter Puella Magi and began raining down a hail of jabs and swipes. Homura was forced to keep her shield up to withstand the onslaught, the shield's relatively small diameter just barely wide enough to keep a stray attack from breaking through her defense. It was then that she realized Kyouko's strategy: to keep her from utilizing any bombs or time-stops, she was not allowing any lapses in the battle. By pinning her opponent down like this, Kyouko could ensure no surprises.

_She's using her brain, for once,_ Homura thought in annoyance as she was forced to take a step back, or risk losing precious leverage. Thanks to the superhuman abilities granted to her from her wish to turn back time, she could see her adversary's movements as if they were just slightly slower than they should have been, allowing her an extra split moment to react. But she couldn't keep this up forever. Kyouko was slowly driving her backwards, step by step until a look up would have told her they were standing under the construction by now, thick metal beams surrounding them and allowing less room to maneuver.

She was out of patience. Allowing her knee to buckle, Homura darted back in what looked like a flinch, although in actuality she had more than adequate control of her balance. Kyouko, fooled into believing she had the upper hand, reared back and lunged with her spear.

_I've got you now._

Using the redhead's momentum against her, Homura planted her heels into the ground and hunkered down, dodging the strike and feeling the rush of air as the spear tip whistled back her ear. Kyouko barely had enough time to choke in surprise before her opponent launched her full weight forward, driving the sharp rim of her shield into the older's Puella Magi's gut. The blow took her from below and upended her entire body, sending all her dead weight tumbling into the dirt as Homura rolled away to gain some breathing room, resummoning her bow.

Drawing a buzzing bolt and nocking it, Homura took aim. Her goal was not to kill her opponent, as that would waste all of her previous efforts, but she certainly didn't mind incapacitation. Marking the hollow of Kyouko's throat where the ruby hued Soul Gem was fixated, she let the arrow fly.

The redhead's reflexes proved to be too quick, however. Swiping up her dropped weapon and lashing out wildly, the girl conjured a wall of simmering red energy, Homura's projectile shattering harmlessly against the defense. Seizing the lapse in action resulting afterwards, the pastor's daughter tightened the chain-like walls around her until they encircled completely. This way, even during a time freeze, she was impossible to reach. Homura was mildly impressed to note this development; it seemed during her absence, Kyouko had honed her abilities. The redhead hadn't been capable of manipulating the wall before.

"Don't underestimate me," The older girl smirked as she used her spear shaft to regain her footing. "Our first meeting was the first and last time I'll ever run from a fight with you."

"I considered you wise for turning back that day," Homura replied calmly as she drew another arrow. "Is it really worth rescinding that?"

Kyouko spun her spear and unchained it, drawing the writhing coils about her body. "I never really needed your approval anyways."

That said, she charged, steel-backed boots cutting into the loose sand beneath their feet. Homura was against surprised to see that the shield encasing her opponent's entire body was moving along with her; this further complicated things. Loosing the arrow at its target despite knowing it was a useless endeavor, the black haired girl heard the bolt shatter before reaching into the void and pulling out a flashbang. Duly noting she had mere heartbeats before she was steamrolled by the charging redhead, Homura leapt back and pulled the the pin on the grenade, letting it drop between them and raising her shield arm to her eyes to shied them from the imminent blast.

A great storm of smoke and debris was thrown up by the sonic impact of the grenade, sending small chunks of loosely packed dirt pattering down on the beams above them. Though she visuals were obscured, Homura assumed Kyouko was laying stunned somewhere within the dust cloud and reached for her wrist, intent on activating a time freeze.

Her plans were abruptly skewed, however, when the veil of smoke was ripped apart by a rather angry redhead running straight for her, presumably unaffected by the flashbang. Homura, unprepared for such a development, barely reacted in time to parry a bone shuddering blow from the spear. The crimson fence still rotated around Kyouko's form, unbroken by its recent weathering. Obviously, it granted its user immunity from visual disturbances. Homura would later base this on the nature of Kyouko's wish, seeing as it had involved illusions, but she was currently fully occupied with trying to block an incoming hailstorm of attacks while simultaneously fighting to maintain balance. Placed under such adverse conditions, even she was bound to make a mistake.

It came inevitably. In a desperate attempt to regain some leverage, the shorter Puella Magi lunged with her shield arm leading, hoping to knock the spear tip back long enough to regain some footing. Her hopes were promptly dashed, however, when instead the shaft unchained and the spearhead snaked under her guard, tearing into the soft flesh of her forearm and severing the magical bonds which kept the shield secured there. As a result of taking such a blow, she was thrown off her feet and sent tumbling until her body collided with a steel support beam.

Gritting her teeth as the back shrieked in protest, Homura knew she would have broken her spine without her preterhuman endurance. Looking down at her forearm, she saw the crimson blood flowing freely from the long gash which had been opened up there. Knowing it was imperative that she bind the wound as soon as possible, Homura ignored the injury and readied her bow yet again, staring down Kyouko who had chosen not to rush in and finish her off.

Though it may have seemed to any onlooker that the two of them were altercating for the sole purpose of killing each other, they both knew this not to be true. Homura wouldn't kill Kyouko because she believed she was trying to _save _Kyouko, and the pastor's daughter was transparent enough for her to know that she didn't have it within herself to kill another magical girl.

Not in this timeline, anyway.

No, this was a battle for submission. The winner would earn some degree of dominance over the loser; Homura wanted only to force her thickheaded adversary to just _listen_ to what the hell she needed to say. She had little idea what Kyouko would do outside of physically rebuking her, but she had no intention of letting that become a reality.

Kyouko raised her eyebrow at the sight of Homura standing back up without attending to her wound, despite her having given the black haired girl a chance to do so. Hefting her weapon, the girl sighed and said, "I'll just knock you out and dump your body somewhere close to your house. I don't know exactly where you live anymore, after all. That all right with you?"

Homura nocked her third arrow of the battle, lifting her chin disdainfully. "You'll have to _make_ me lose consciousness first." Diplomacy had now ceased to become even a concept between them. She knew it had been naive of her to allow things to get like this, but now that the line had been crossed she had no choice but to follow through. In all honesty, Homura rather wouldn't have wanted to fight Kyouko. But the redhead understood few forms of genuine communication outside of violence.

_So if I defeat you in a way you can understand, perhaps then you will listen._

Kyouko's eyes dimmed a bit at the response. "So be it."

As Homura's next bolt was batted aside by the spear, she remembered their last encounter.

* * *

><p><strong>New fic! I do apologize for anything which may have felt OOC in this chapter, as it is my first foray into the Madoka fandom. If you enjoyed and would like to see more, I do encourage you to review! Aside from providing me with valuable feedback, it serves to motivate me to continue writing.<strong>

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Shrrg**


	2. The Human Heart

Chapter 2: The Human Heart

Impulses were wonderfully satisfying to give into.

Someone had told her once that impulses came from obsessions. That they were instinctual reactions specifically engineered to protect the object of one's excessive attention. Like a criminal who thoughtlessly shoots his accomplice for fear of betrayal. Of course, Homura had almost immediately dismissed such an idea as needlessly repressive. She didn't need petty worries like that restricting her.

Though they did say denial was the greatest comfort for insanity.

"You're obsessed!" Kyouko's harsh tongue had grated, the emotions behind them whipping out to lash her ears, the brain behind them shirking away from what may or may not have been the truth. Homura had flinched when the redhead leapt to her feet and grabbed her by the elbow, in a foolish attempt to stop her from leaving.

It hadn't been a particularly aggressive maneuver, but Homura's heart had immediately begun to hammer in her chest, and the all too familiar fear of failure erupted somewhere in her gut. She had been trying to leave her companions, finally realizing no amount of explaining or arguing was going to get through to them, when Kyouko had reached out to grab her.

Such a development enraged her for reasons she would never comprehend.

"Let go of me," She had whispered, feeling the restraint wrestling in the air passing through her lips, but unsure of exactly what she was trying to hold back. Was it anger? Was it defeat?

"Like hell I will!" Kyouko had snapped back at her. "I can't just let you leave us like that without giving a justifiable answer. You just keep raving on about this girl-"

"If you won't believe the truth, then there is nothing I have left to say to you," Homura cut back frigidly.

Kyouko breathed heavily through her nostrils. "Look, I'm not trying to say you're crazy or anything. Just...even if it's true, what does it matter?"

"It matters to everything!" Homura had snarled back at her companion, an act which caused the redhead to flinch in surprise and loosen her grip on the girl's sleeve. Finally breaking free, the black haired girl spun and tried to stalk away again. Kyouko would have none of it, however, and lunged forward to seize her by the collar.

"Look, you little-"

That was enough to push her beyond restraint. Looking back on it, Homura couldn't exactly discern as to why she did what she did next. Regardless of what the true motives may have been, nothing could stop the magical girl from shoving Kyouko away her from her before drawing an arrow and sending it into the redhead's Soul Gem.

Whether it was an object of fortune for them both to have been in the magical girl forms at that moment, she couldn't say. Fortunate for her, and endlessly inconvenient for her former companion, she supposed. There was an ear biting crack as the purple bolt shattered the ruby fixed to the hollow of its owner's throat, sending scarlet fragments pinwheeling through the air. As everything around them slowed, Homura saw the light leaving Kyouko's eyes and with them, any semblance of trust.

Mami, who had been observing the argument passively, choked and stumbled to her feet in shock as the redhead's body tumbled to the floor in a heap of dead weight. It made a morbid sounding _thump_ upon impact, making the functional corpse sound hollow as it really was. Even Kyubey's ears twitched.

Homura was the only one not to exhibit an extreme reaction, lowering her bow and staring coldly down at her victim. Even the smidgen of remorse she had left did not feel guilt. After all, she hadn't exactly killed the girl. Destroying the Soul Gem would only prevent Kyouko from utilizing her magical abilities until a replacement was obtained, as well as effectively knocking her unconscious for several hours. The black haired girl sheathed her bow and watched the redhead's attire dissipate and be replaced by her usual clothing.

Mami finally managed to use her tongue to form words. "What in the world did you just do!" The blonde exploded, drawing a pistol to underscore her anger as she stalked across the courtyard her direction, only to falter when another arrow was point in her direction.

"What I had to," Homura replied levelly. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kyubey observing their interaction silently. "It may have been a bit extreme, but she wouldn't have let me leave otherwise. Don't worry, she'll live...probably."

She saw the agony in Mami's face and didn't entirely dislike it. Keeping the arrow trained on the musket wielder, Homura began to walk backwards, away from the lights illuminating the square. She barked at Kyubey to follow her, and the alien, finding no reason to deny this, leapt off the fence and ran to her side. Stealing one last look back, Homura turned and fled.

Ignoring the regret already sprouting within.

* * *

><p>These memories tore through Homura's mind as her wings thundered around her, carrying her slight body up through the beams of the construction site, wheeling upwards toward the sky criss crossed by the rods still above her. Kyouko was in pursuit, leaping to keep up with her adversary, but the redhead didn't seem entirely bent on catching up. Just another reminder that she wasn't fighting to kill.<p>

Well, Homura didn't exactly want to kill Kyouko either, for various reasons. Finally clearing the highest level of construction beams, she furled her wings and brought herself to a hovering halt about ten meters higher, waiting for her opponent to arrive.

Kyouko bounded upwards and landed to balance on a narrow steel surface, the crimson force field still orbiting around her person. Homura narrowed her eyes as she examined the situation. Unfortunately enough, developments had left her shield still on the ground several stories below, having been severed by an errant jab from the spear. She hadn't actually been aware that a force could separate the shield from her, a mistake she was glad hadn't proved to be fatal. Meaning she had only her wings and bow at disposal, although any offense on her part could be deflected at the moment.

There was only one thing working to her advantage, and that was the fact that this battle was not _meant_ to be fatal. She was well aware that the redhead was more venting her frustrations at most, anger caused from being unable to understand Homura's departure. So, she didn't have to overpower her opponent.

Just outlast her.

Homura had just sent another arrow flying when it was knocked aside, but not by the crimson spear. A hefty bullet struck the buzzing bolt and utterly destroyed it, the projectile still passing through and striking a steel beam, leaving a sizable dent and sending smoke everywhere. Unaware of the nature of this new threat, Homura twisted her body and fell away from the impact zone, trying to force some distance between herself and a possible new threat.

Looking up, she identified the source. Mami Tomoe was standing atop a spire protruding from an adjacent building with Kyubey perched on her shoulder, nothing more than pure anger shining in her golden eyes. Homura felt a brief surprise at the fact that the blonde had actually been willing to damage city property in order to intervene, seeing as the upperclassman usually preferred to avoid collateral damage, but then realized that this revealed the extent of her irritation.

Bringing herself to another full stop as the smoke cleared into the air around them, Homura called out, "I'm surprised you took the time to come and find us."

Kyouko, at last noticing the newcomer, gasped and said, "M-Mami? But why-"

"I'm sick and tired of all of this!" The blonde shouted suddenly. Leaping from the spire and landing on a steel beam of her own, she crossed her arms and glared daggers at the two of them. "Just how did it ever get like this? We used to work together...and now...you're fighting as if you've been enemies from the start."

Homura felt the battle-craze dissipating from the atmosphere and noted that if Mami's sole intention had been to stop the fight, she had succeeded. Kyouko had even expelled her shield at this point, and the black haired girl felt that any aggressive action on her part would result in her having to take on two Puella Magi instead of one. Gritting her teeth upon seeing clearly that her plans had been thoroughly skewed, the magical girl sheathed her bow and allowed her wings to drop her down onto the steel beams.

"I..." Kyouko's eyes shrouded with regret. "I didn't start it! She's the one who came here and started talking nonsense."

"You didn't seem particularly eager to continue negotiating, if I do remember correctly," Homura replied. By now, the sun had completely set and the moon was clawing its way across the sky.

"Enough, both of you," Mami cut in, exerting her pressure as the older veteran to the fullest extent. Though Homura herself was certainly more experienced than her, almost exponentially so, but she wasn't one to count her accolades. "I don't care who started it. Why were the two of you fighting in the first place? All three of us, we have the same goals, the same problems...how could you let conflict arise like this?"

Homura knew the blonde was trying to guilt them by placing the weight of responsibility on their shoulders and had to suppress a scoff. Tomoe had nothing to say when it came to responsibility. Her gut was urging her to snap back and tell the older Puella Magi to leave, and say this was none of her business, but this would effectively undermine her plans if it was successful. In actuality, she realized, this was rather convenient. She hadn't expected to have all three of them in the same place so soon.

"We may have similar aims, but the methods we use to achieve them tend to clash rather often," Homura said levelly. Then she stared at Kyouko. "Though I was willing to set that aside for the sake of civility."

The redhead couldn't say anything to that, knowing that essentially it had been her actions which set off the brief skirmish. Still, the girl wasn't one to admit her faults so openly. Raising her chin, the spear wielder posed, "Then...why did you agree to fight me?"

The black haired girl smiled back in a way that seemed both accommodating and menacing. "You probably would have just killed me otherwise. Besides, beating you would probably be a faster way to make you listen. I never intended to severely injure you."

She noticed Mami's expression change at those final words and felt a small spark of contentment blossom in her breast. She had the situation under control now. She may disapprove of it severely, but Homura was not below manipulating the blonde's infatuation with cooperation between magical girls to her own ends. If she made it seem that they had fought not as enemies, but as functional allies simply settling a dispute, her upperclassman was sure to support her in their mutual endeavor to smooth things out. Homura wouldn't be entirely lying, either. She _did_ want the three of them to work together again.

Just not for the same reasons.

"Well...I suppose that may be true," Kyouko was forced to admit. They both knew that there had been some points in the battle where Homura could have severely handicapped her opponent. When she bowled her over with the shield, for example. A blade could have been plunged into the intestines.

"In that case, Akemi-san," Mami voiced, "Did you enter Kyouko's territories in order to...negotiate?"

She tried to make it sound loaded with suspicion, but Homura smelled the hope fizzling beneath. "Of course," She responded, looking up to meet those molten golden irises with her own black pits. "I did leave on rather uncertain terms last time, and I haven't had a chance yet to reconcile with Sakura-san for my offenses..."

She could feel the changes her words were creating within Mami's heart, but knew there was one final push needed to convince her.

"...and I didn't want our companionship to end."

_Done,_ Homura thought with a slight smile as she watched Mami's eyes light up. She knew she should be feeling some modicum of guilt for manipulating the girl's emotions in such a manner, but such moral obligations were easily tossed aside if it meant she got what she needed.

"I...I see," Tomoe said, nodding in acceptance. She walked across the steel beams, heels clicking against the metal until she stood between the two other girls, looking at both of them with a satisfied expression on her face. "In that case...would the two of you please reconcile?"

Homura looked past the blonde to lock eyes with Kyouko. Pitch to blood. The older girl blinked back at her, the indecision churning all over her countenance. Homura had been counting, admittedly, on Mami's persuasive skills as well as the redhead's natural friendship with her to be more than enough to seal the agreement. However, the pastor's daughter seemed to be searching her face, searching for evidence of the deception which may or may not have laid beneath the stony exterior.

"I do apologize," Homura said with a pinch of emotion. "I can't exactly justify what I did without confusing you, but you do have my regret."

Kyouko stared back at her for another moment, before nodding and sheathing her spear. "I don't usually give people second chances, but..." She looked down for a moment before coming up with a tentative smile. "Maybe I should gamble once in a while."

Mami smiled warmly at this development and clapped her hands together, as if she were pushing the two girls' hearts together in an attempt at forced fusion. Then the wind whistled through her fingers, like an ethereal force trying to pry that melding force apart, trying to scoop up the components of the conglomerate and whisk them away to prevent some sort of undesirable result. Homura saw this and wondered if fate existed, and if it did, what its opinion was on this situation.

"Well then," The blonde said happily, "I do know it's starting to get dark, but how about you both join me for some cake and tea? We have some catching up to do."

As Homura spread her wings to take the route to a house other than her own for the first time on months, she could only hope that Kyouko was a good gambler.

_And in the end we were meant to be apart_

_In separate chambers of the human heart..._

* * *

><p>Mami couldn't help but giggle to herself at the scene she witnessed out of the corner of her eye, bringing her tea cup up to her lips to hide the fact that she was watching.<p>

She was standing on the veranda of her apartment building, the breathing city glittering in its exhalations beneath her, the constant light shifting and fluctuating as if every streetlight had a respiratory system. Most others like her would have looked down at the view and seen only the problems left to tackle, but she was one of the blessed few who could only see the obstacles already conquered. Some people were prone to faulting others for that, however.

She had insisted on bringing all of them to her abode, especially because she knew it would make Akemi uncomfortable, but it had to be understood this was not done out of malice but benevolence. Mami didn't believe that the black haired girl was nearly as apprehensive of associating with others as she made out to be. After all, humans were born to intermix with one another. There were those who may have pointed out that perhaps the girl simply was not human anymore, but Mami held a firm belief in her humanity. That was the one thing being a Puella Magi sapped away above all, that was, the sensation of being a distinct individual. Many had despaired at the revelation that they were little more than demon-hunting machines, but Mami had faith in her own willpower, as well as Akemi's.

They may not have many things in common, but they would both fight to the ends of despair for their dreams.

She continued watching the conversation taking place behind the glass doors discreetly. An excuse about her needing some air had been enough to leave the room, but really this had just been a guise. Mami's genuine desire was not for Akemi to view them as peers under the same umbrella of suffering, but as confidants, partners.

Maybe even friends.

While that last wish may have been a bit too much to ask for, one could hope. Upon first setting out to hunt the demons she had been contracted the defeat, the blonde had been horrified to learn of the thorough fragmentation between magical girls. There was distrust, hatred, and selfishness in a crisis where cooperation should have been the first option. Some nights seemed to be more centered around fights between Puella Magi than the killing of the demons.

Mami had watched, eventually, as every last one of them succumbed to the despair brought on in equal quantity to the hope their wishes had wrought. Taken away by the Law of Cycles, vanishing with no one left behind the mourn their passing. It was this which had convinced her that connections between people was the answer to their predicament. Humanity was greater that the sum of its parts, a collective term rather than an individualistic one.

Mami couldn't entirely deny that it was this belief which drove her to possible reform Akemi's view on life, as well as Kyouko's. After watching them both cut themselves off from others to tackle their monstrous obstacles alone...her instincts had prompted her to reach out to them.

Finishing her tea, the blonde brushed her ringlets absently with two fingertips before turning to face the door. It was about time she returned to her friends...

The thought tickled her fancy, and Mami couldn't help a smile from slashing across her face.

_Now I'm not alone anymore..._

Homura liked to pride herself on her exceptional composure, but her usual poise seemed to fail her in the current situation.

She was sitting at a table in the center of Mami's apartment, the very realization striking a bolt of unease through her gut, like she was immerse within some sort of unnatural environment better suited for another species. Kyubey had disappeared to somewhere after observing their agreement, saying something about having to organize his own business, leaving the three girls to tend to their own loose ends.

The tables and drawers lining the peach colored walls were lined with ornaments, stuffed animals and the like, all frivolous pieces she would never have deemed necessary to keep in a home base. But even she knew this was a bit too much to expect of the enigmatic owner of the room, considering the person in question made a habit of treating tea like water. Said tea was sitting before her on the transparent glass table, growing colder by the moment but still warm enough to wrap one's fingers around to let the heat seep through the ceramic.

"You kind of naturally look up to her, don't you?" Kyouko's voice tickled her left ear, and Homura turned to observe the laid back girl. It still felt surreal to her that they had been crossing blades only a mere hour earlier, the merciless anger in their eyes sparring all the while. Only more evidence that their clash had been more a venting of frustrations between them, but the severe fluctuations in the redhead's attitude worried her a bit.

Homura followed her gaze and saw Mami leaning against the railing outside on the veranda, observing the cityscape gleaming below her. To be totally frank, she totally disagreed with Kyouko's statement. In fact, she spent of her time feeling like the oldest of the three of them and wishing they would learn from _her_ once in a while.

"Others seem easily attracted to her," Homura replied diplomatically. "Time will tell whether that works to her advantage, though."

Kyouko's smile weathered a bit. "Yeah. Sometimes she gives into her impulses too often. Speaking of which..." She glanced down at her steaming tea and murmured, "I'm sorry I lost my temper. I should have let you speak your mind first."

A bit surprised to receive such a genuine apology from the traditionally callous girl, Homura nodded gracefully in acceptance. "That's alright. I'm not completely free of fault either; I didn't exactly respond calmly. We can just call it a mutual mistake."

The redhead looked up and smiled gratefully. "Sounds good."

She couldn't help feeling a bit turned over at the ease of the transition from hostility to friendship, if it could be called that. Could people really find forgiveness between each other so easily? Sometimes, it felt to Homura like the world was spinning around her in a great turbulence of matches, rematches, and inconsistencies all while she clung to her own constants. She had always considered the fickleness of those around her to be rather foolish, seeing them as irrational gambles, but seeing the same traits reflected in Kyouko made her wonder. The redhead had survived just as long and as well as she herself had.

Was her own method really the only correct path?

"I do worry about her sometimes, though," The redhead continued suddenly, stemming the stream of Homura's thoughts. "She's strong in her morals, and that's a good thing of course, but sometimes it makes her thinking all cloudy, and she makes dangerous decisions. Know what I mean?"

Homura's pinky shifted around her set of china, and she watched the ripples ride across the surface of the tea. It occurred to her then that the Kyouko in this universe had always been friends with Mami, although that relationship had been strained at times. "I don't know her as well as you do, but I see what you mean."

The air in the apartment felt slightly less stifling. "She gets really angry if things don't go the way she thinks is right, you know," Kyouko said with a small chuckle. She continued observing the aforementioned blonde through the window. "She can be impossibly stubborn sometimes."

Homura knew this all too well. Mami Tomoe was not someone to question her own beliefs, let alone allow them to be challenged by external forces. So much so that in another timeline, she had chosen to kill her companions rather than place her faith in them. Briefly, she remembered the irritation flickering in those golden irises while they were atop the construction site. She had been genuinely angry.

But they all were, in one way or another, all upset with how the world had treated them. Though this fact did tie the three of them together explicitly, the comparisons stopped at a certain point. Homura understood that her own anger was cold, allowing her to use it, but Mami's anger was hot and it used her.

"Do you believe this could backfire in any way?" Homura asked, posing the question for certain specific reasons. She wished to test the girl's true level of wisdom.

Kyouko smiled sadly at the inquiry. "Of course. You could want only the best for someone, but only end up hurting them. Sayaka learned that. _I _learned that. All the good in the world will only be met with an equal amount of despair. There's no way to overflow the scale."

_As long as she knows,_ Homura thought, sipping absently at the tea, which she had to admit was actually rather well prepared. She didn't particularly enjoy asking depressingly questions during discourse, but felt that the need for small talk and social niceties were long lost between any two Puella Magi. No one else saw the world as starkly as it really was.

"Well, I guess it'll be up to us to make sure that doesn't happen, right?" Kyouko said, surprising the other girl with an encouraging smile. Leaning back on one hand, the redhead held out her hand and locked eyes with the black haired girl staring back at her.

"I know we have our differences," She said slowly, "But I don't believe in perfect matches. So...friends?"

_Friends._ The world felt foreign and blocky on Homura's tongue, exotic or frivolous even. She usually would have brushed off such things as unnecessary, but this was no simple connection with an ordinary human. This was another magical girl, someone who comprehended her troubles and tribulations, someone who would not sympathize with her but stand beside her and weather the storm as an equal.

She had to blink to bring herself back. What was she thinking? She was only here to honor Madoka's sacrifice...only for that.

Nothing else.

Not bothering to force a smile, knowing Kyouko would see right through it, Homura reached out and reciprocated the handshake. The older girl grinned back as the pact was sealed.

Outside, Mami turned to reenter the room.

Inside, Homura's heart felt oddly warm.

* * *

><p>"<em>The middle districts, huh?"<em>

Kyouko's voice rattled into Homura's ears through the phone line. They had recently all shared their digits with each other, although she herself only own a landline. It was too cumbersome to carry a cell on her person everywhere she went. She had called Kyouko with insight on some demon sightings in the past week, having noticed that a large number were beginning to gather around a cemetery. This in itself was not entirely unusual, seeing as burial sites for the dead were ripe with misery and sadness, making for an excellent breeding ground for demons.

Still, they didn't want the numbers to grow. Under most circumstances, Homura would have let the demons multiply before sweeping them in one attack, thus harvesting the maximum amount of energy. A maxim both Kyubey and Kyouko could side with. A problem did present itself, however. There was another concentration point expanding only a mile from the cemetery, and if the two hotspots grew enough to meld together, it may result in a problem too large for the three of them to handle alone.

"Yes," Homura affirmed. "Near your territory, where there is a slight increase in the number of impoverished inhabitants. I think we should sweep the area before the situation exceeds containment level."

_"You don't have to make it sound so dramatic, you know," _Kyouko sighed from the other end of the line. _"You could just say 'there's a lot of them, so let's go kill the lot of them,' or something."_

"Perhaps you aren't sophisticated enough."

_"Not a complicated job. Kill demons, don't get too depressed. An endless, simple cycle."_

Simplicities could pile up to form complexities. "In any case, I would appreciate it if you could contact Tomoe-san for me and ask when she is best positioned for hunting. It would be best to coordinate our efforts."

_"Our first hunt together in a while, eh?"_ The redhead thought aloud. _"Alright, will do. I'll call you back."_

"Thank you."

The line went dead.

* * *

><p>The grass crunched softly beneath her feet like roiling clouds burned away by the rising sun as she scaled the side of the small knoll, another companion trailing her in the wake of her path. Mami had always been one to marvel at the grace of nature, and took a moment just before the peak to absorb the environment around her, as if through some warped process of osmosis its beauty would transfer within.<p>

Feeling nothing more than the breeze running its fingers through her hair, however, she sighed and finished her ascent.

"The walk up here always gets me hungry for lunch," A light voice giggled behind her.

Kiku Hanezawa closed the distance between herself and her best friend and panted slightly upon its completion, but still wore that smile Mami could quite literally die for. Thick, luscious hair tumbled down the girl's back, the chocolate brown tresses reaching almost to the hem of the skirt which comprised part of their school uniform. Many of the school's students had complained about the institution's color scheme, citing the light butter yellow and simple brown themes to be bland and damaging to their overall appearance. Kiku seemed to totally disregard this sentiment; she looked stunning, drab uniform or not. Then again, Mami thought she looked good in anything.

The soothing smile closed itself back behind the walls of a porcelain face, much to another's disappointment. "Did you bring a bento today? I didn't see you standing in the cafeteria line..."

Mami smiled and took a seat on the giving grass. "Of course," She replied, holding up the decorative box she had brought up with her. "I woke up a little earlier for it, but it beats waiting for the food."

Kiku laughed at the remark and sat down beside her. The tree stretching its branches towards the invisible stars from its roots atop the hill provided them with ample shade, providing for a relaxed, comfortable place to eat. Mami loved eating here every day, partly because she could see a vast portion of the campus from here; people as they frown and laughed at each other, formed bonds and strengthened them. All carrying about their own business but undeniably part of a cohesive whole. Or at least, she liked to think so.

It also meant time alone with Kiku.

The winsome third year was undeniably popular among her peers, both older and younger, but was also one of the select few able to not let it all get to her head. Blessed with an airy sense of beauty and an amiable disposition, she was the object of adoration to many. Boys from neighboring schools were naturally attracted to her outward appearance, but there was something more than that, a sort of aura constantly clinging around her that made others feel at ease.

Kiku didn't achieve particularly remarkable grades and was only passably athletic, but it was flaws like these which had drawn Mami to pursue a friendship between them. To her, the brunette felt so organic, so..._human._ Not obsessive like Akemi, not filled with irritation like Kyouko, not so oblivious towards others like Kyubey. Completely devoid of the internal extremes which Mami had always felt ate away at their humanity, and thus resented passionately. Kiku embodied many of the things Mami wished she could be, although this fact was something the blonde often had trouble admitting.

Essentially, her own philosophy incarnate.

"It's getting alot colder these days, isn't it?" The brunette sitting cross legged beside her said suddenly, spooning and small portion of her lunch into her mouth and chewing thoughtfully.

"Yes," Mami replied, unwrapping her own meal. "Fall is ending, after all. Maybe we'll get some snow this year, even."

Kiku laughed again. "Yeah, right. It never snows here."

"Well, one can dream."

More laughter.

Two delicate fingers brushed those chocolate locks behind tender looking ears as Kiku turned her eyes towards her friend. "Say, did you hear? Miyazaki-chan had to turn down another guy again..."

Mami smiled amiably again and indulged herself in the aimless conversation. Feeling it wrap around her and bring soothing relaxation. Yes, she had heard. Why, how interesting that was. Forget about the demons clawing out the walls outside, the distrustful looks of other magical girls. Just forget...

"I heard the guy she turned down just won't give up," Kiku continued with an amused sigh. "Don't you just hate that? When people try so hard to cling onto things they obviously can't have..."

There was something in those words which should have bothered her, but Mami simply brushed it aside. "It can be cumbersome, yes. If the boy's insistence hurts Miyazaki-chan too, it would be especially bad."

Kiku hummed thoughtfully and ate more of her food. "There must be something driving him though, to be so determined. Maybe he thinks she's the only one he can ever pursue? Like, as if they're destined, or something," The girl giggled.

"I still wouldn't enjoy the process."

The brunette nodded seriously. "Well, duh. Makes me glad that we're such good friends, eh? This way be both get all the love in the world," She flashed a winning smile, bringing a chuckle to her friend's lips.

Mami was about to reply with a jibe of her own when her mental faculties were pervaded by an intruding voice.

[_Don't you think you should be preparing yourself, rather than playing around?] _A skeptical sounding voice reverberated within the blonde's skull.

Feeling the planned response tumble apart on her tongue, the magical girl felt a noticeable surge of annoyance flash through her, causing even Homura's presence within her consciousness to recoil somewhat at the unexpected bout of displeasure.

[_Perhaps, but things like these are important too,]_ Mami thought back. [_Make a few friends and you just might understand.]_

The blonde glanced across the courtyard below and found her; the black haired student was sitting calmly on a bench, far enough to be unnoticeable to others but close enough to make her presence known to the person she was conversing with. The shield user seemed to be frowning, apparently put off by the older girl's sudden caustic mood, considering she had been so accommodating the previous night. Realizing that she may be allowing her emotions to get out of hand, Mami put effort into relaxing herself again.

[_Well..._] Homura's thoughts halted. [_Kyouko and I agreed to become friends yesterday. I assume that counts?_]

[_Friends aren't made through contracts like magical girls are. Because they won't ask for anything in return.]_

The shield user didn't speak for a moment, apparently mulling this over. Mami took this time to look back at Kiku and saw her quietly eating her lunch, accepting the brief lapse in their conversation. [_In any case,_] Mami thought back, [_Is there something you need? Or are you feeling a bit too lonely?_]

Homura wondered briefly at the older Puella Magi's sudden shift in mental tone. [_I'm not one to make unnecessary conversation, as you know. Sakura-san and I spoke last night. There are a couple demon hotspots we need to intervene in before they grow too large. Make sure you're free tonight._]

[_Kyouko told me about that already._] Mami felt oddly upset; she was itching to return to her conversation with Kiku, who seemed a bit put off by her sudden silence but was saying nothing out of consideration.

[_I know. Just a reminder. I do have more things to tell you.]_

"Do you ever wonder?" Kiku said aloud suddenly, giving into her tendency to go off on random tangents occasionally. It was a trait Mami usually adored in the girl, but at the moment it only served to be cumbersome.

"Ah...about what?" The blonde mumbled. [_Go ahead._]

"About people who..." The other girl searched for her words. "You know, are stubborn in their beliefs, I guess," She derailed with a sheepish giggle.

[_There is a third demon hotspot accumulating with a hospital at its epicenter. Normally the logical course of action would be to contain it immediately, but there are no other hotspots within an acknowledgeable distance, so any merging is negligible._]

"Well, everyone has things they stick to," Mami responded. [_So? What are you suggesting?_]

"I know. But...sometimes you watch them and you think about how foolish it is. Like they can't see the things happening around them, only the one thing that they want. It's kind of scary, honestly."

[_We let the hotspot expand. Even if it grows larger, there will be only one area of containment. Then we hunt them in one fell swoop, cleaning the district for a good amount of time. It's a more efficient alternative to performing several smaller attacks on the same place.]_

"Is this because of that confession to Miyazaki-chan?" Mami replied absently, trying to grapple what exactly Akemi was trying to say. [_But wait. If we allow the hotspot to fester, won't the residents in the area be severely affected by the increased levels of despair? Not to mention there's a hospital full of injured patients in the thick of it...what about them?_]

[_Unfortunately, we'll have to subject them to some discomfort._]

"I guess," The brunette admitted. "But it's not just that. Only a random thought, really. You know I have a lot of those. Why do people want things they can't have?"

[_That's out of the question!_] Mami thought back forcefully. [_Based on experience, you can expect there to be a dozen suicides if you allow things to worsen simply for the sake of efficiency...that's just wrong._] "Maybe there's nothing else left for them," The blonde then said back to her friend, feeling like she was defending herself from two people at once.

[_But it is necessary. Demon activity grows stronger during the winter season. We need to prepare ourselves properly for the onslaught._]

[_You sound like an Incubator,_] Mami thought accusingly.

"I mean, I get the entire 'human greed' theory, but it doesn't seem very rooted in reason," Kiku chattered on. "Maybe they're just obsessed?"

A slight pause. [_Maybe I am,_], Homura thought back, making Mami wonder if she could hear their conversation.

"You never know, they just might be on to something," Mami murmured to her friend, turning her head to make eye contact with the black haired girl staring expectantly back across the square. [_I don't like this. We must think of the well being of those we protect, too._]

[_We don't fight for them. We fight for ourselves._]

"Maybe they're just selfish people," Kiku suggested.

Homura was frowning at them. [_Are you listening? If that girl's interrupting us, tell her to-_]

[_Leave Kiku alone!_] The sudden surge of emotions scrambled their mental link.

[_...Well, it is ultimately your choice._]

Mami saw the black haired girl rise from her seat and turn away.

[_I can't force you to do anything. Your choices are your own. Just make sure you won't regret them._]

Idiot, the blonde thought bitterly as she packed up her untouched bento. Akemi had been compliant enough to pursue their reunion, and she had been glad to facilitate it, but there were still times when the shield user sent her pulse skyrocketing.

_I've never regretted anything in my life._

The Soul Gem clicking in her pocket told her how utterly untrue this was, but she pushed it away.

_I'm swimming in the smoke_

_Of bridges I have burned..._

* * *

><p>"Did anything happen?"<p>

The redhead's inquiry prodded at Homura as she stared out across the landscape, awaiting their companion. Mami usually was not one to arrive late to appointments, often being the one to arrange the hunts themselves, but today proved to be an exception. Although, she could think of a few reasons why the girl was lagging.

"She didn't take too well to the idea of allowing the hotspot to fester," Homura admitted as she rubbed her finger along the length of her bow, wanting to occupy herself.

Kyouko sighed. "Well, it makes me a bit squeamish too, but it's ultimately the best choice, right?"

"Of course," The shield user agreed. "But Tomoe-san refuses to acknowledge that."

They were both standing atop a building overlooking the local city cemetery, the slanted tombstones beneath them bending as if to coax them down to join them. Some people feared cemeteries for their connections to death and sadness, but all Homura saw was a bunch of rocks marking the placement of a body which had probably degraded into carbon materials years ago.

They were waiting for Mami, who as said earlier was running rather late. Homura understood that the blonde may have felt upset at their talk earlier, but it still frustrated her to find that such a trivial quarrel was enough to affect the older magical girl. Tomoe was one of the least flexible people she associated with, and this only contributed to the image of fragility Homura attached to Mami.

"She'll come around," Kyouko said reassuringly. "Mami just wants to protect everyone, that's all. But if it's impossible, she'll understand."

"She isn't being very convincing, at the moment."

"I believe in her," Kyouko responded firmly, and Homura looked at her in surprise.

"If you say so."

Still, she could hardly place any measure of faith in Mami. Homura had only held fleeting suspicions based on past encounters, but their argument during the lunch break had essentially confirmed said suspicions for her. The anger that had roared between their mental link on multiple occasions...she had recognized it.

After all, Homura had felt the same way whenever Madoka was threatened.

Except Madoka was now a god, and had always been capable of fending for herself when necessary. Kiku Hanezawa, on the other hand, was fragile, unreliable, and naive...all traits which would get any magical girl killed. The brunette certainly wasn't an actual Puella Magi, but she was friends with one and that was usually enough to bring some degree of detriment about.

And if Mami was willing to fight for her as much as Homura had been willing to fight for Madoka, it wasn't entirely clear whether such an endeavor would be worth it.

_People are cowards, Tomoe-san,_ Homura thought as she absently drew and redrew her arrows. _Madoka would never betray me, but we can't say the same for your friend._

As if her thoughts had summoned the girl under scrutiny, Kyouko started and pointed. "Oh, look. She's here."

Mami was leaping across the rooftops toward them, already in fighting form. Performing one final jump to reach them, she landed heavily and rose, dusting off her attire.

"Sorry I'm late," She excused herself curtly.

Homura scanned her and saw the irritation still prowling inside. "That's fine. We cleared the demons in this immediate area so we could wait safely. It won't be the same once we move away from here, though."

"Ah," Kyouko stretched luxuriously, popping a few of her joints in the process. "It's been a couple of days since I've killed something...shall we go, then?"

"Of course."

The redhead took off towards the hotspot, and Homura was about to bound after her when Mami reached out and touched her elbow.

"About earlier..." The blonde looked at the ground. "I apologize. I don't agree with what you two are planning, but I still shouldn't have become angry."

Homura managed to offer a small, but genuine smile back. "That's alright. We shouldn't be fighting each other, anyways."

"Yes..."

The black haired girl nodded back. "Kyouko has already performed surveillance, so there shouldn't be innocents around. Now let's get started."

Another demon screamed under her onslaught and shattered into a million glittering fragments, its brethren rearing back for a moment before in once again. Mami twisted and summoned several rifles from the empty air around her, grabbing two and once and aiming them at the adversaries. Yanking the triggers indiscriminately, she send a barrage of explosive bullets into the horde and watched in satisfaction as more victims withered away.

Beside her, Kyouko dove off the spire of a tower and jetted down like a crimson raptor, surrounded by her shield. Using her momentum, the girl drove her spear into the concrete and sent a shockwave through the thick mass of demons, destroying several and beating the rest back again. Then a swarm of violet bolts raining down and sank their barbs into the survivors, clearing the entire pack, and Mami saw Homura nocking another bow from a nearby building.

The effectiveness of their teamwork suddenly surged through her, and she grinned.

She and Homura had decided to team up and act and herders, using their long ranged abilities to drive the demons into thick groups. Kyouko, whose fighting style was more oriented towards charging and tanking, would then dive into the congregations and obliterate them. Additional arrows and bullets would finish off the rest. The strategy had proven to be surprisingly effective, and they had already cleared a large portion of the city in just an hour. There was still work to be done, however, and Mami cocked two more rifles to have them ready.

As the last of the demons faded away, Homura leapt down into the square, Mami following suit. A multitude of black spheres were scattered across the concrete, the cancerous eyes of these Grief Seeds staring back at them. Mami ignored the stares and started picking the orbs off the ground.

Homura closed her eyes, focusing her powers. Suddenly, a seam split apart beside her, and a storage portal opened up to be filled. Mami walked over and tossed her load into the space.

"We're lucky we have a good way of lugging all these Seeds around," She said.

"Tell me about it," Kyouko grunted as she threw she own amount into the infinite room. "Otherwise we'd never be able to collect as much as we kill."

"That does remind me," Homura said, "Do you either of you know where Kyubey is? I haven't seen him since that night in the projects, and I had a backlog of Seeds to give him..."

The other girls shook their heads. "Nope. Haven't seen him," Kyouko said. "Maybe he's reporting to his bosses? He's essentially a messenger for someone else, right?"

"Perhaps," Homura murmured. She didn't voice or own opinion, but it was more than plausible that the alien was disappointed at their reunion and was thus avoiding them for the time being.

"That's not so important," Mami said breezily, storing the last of the Grief Seeds within the portal. Any remaining traces of her earlier angst seemed to have disappeared. "As long as we work together, everything with work out."

Kyouko smiled. "I suppose."

"Shall we continue?" Homura asked, tucking a midnight strand behind her ear.

As the two girls nodded their consent and leapt atop the buildings nearby, she watched the blonde's retreating form with a curious frown. The gun user looked vibrant, happy..._alive._

But for the wrong reasons, she felt.

Then Homura simply shrugged. It shouldn't prove to be too troublesome...after all, if Tomoe was that much more inspired to hunt demons it was only a good thing.

The three of them then continued their systematic cleansing of the district; their tactic from before never failed them, swath after swath of demons falling to their attacks as the moon continued to spectate from above. The smile plastered across Mami's face grew wider with every kill, until she was practically laughing as she sent bullets spiraling towards the enemy. Homura duly noted this and was reminded too well of another timeline, where the blonde had also been infatuated with the Power of Friendship during battle, a mistake which had ultimately resulted in her death.

Mami wouldn't have died in that timeline if she had simply heeded Homura's advice, and the shield user desperately hoped that would change this time around.

Despite this, she tried to allow the worries to recede to the back of her mind to be analyzed later. It wasn't healthy to dwell on past mistakes. This current horde seemed to be the last remaining one from the original hotspot. They simply had to get through this last push...

Homura sensed it happening before it actually did. A flicker at the edge of her vision foreshadowed it mere moments before; what seemed like an elderly man, bent over and stiff with age in the night's cold, trudging through the alleys below them. A bolt of panic flashed through her mind. Hadn't Kyouko confirmed zero witnesses? In any case, why wasn't the old man reacting to the battle taking place around him?

Closer observation told her the answer; he was possessed, a conclusion deducible from the way the old man staggered about like a drunkard, as well as the negative aura quite literally pulsing from him. A demon had entered his soul. Setting her lips into a grim line, Homura turned her attention back to the battle. If he was still alive once she was finished, they would attempt an exorcism.

Mami's priorities were, however, apparently quite different. The blonde had also noticed the bystander and abandoned her post as a herder, instead choosing to leap down towards the old man as Homura's arrows rained down around her.

_Fool!_ Homura thought, enraged.

The extent of Mami's folly was soon revealed. With the absence of the blonde's bullets hindering them, the massive pack of demons they had been chipping away at began to spread out over the area. This in itself wouldn't have been such a detrimental development, if Kyouko hadn't been in the middle of another suicide dive aimed at the center of the now broken mass of demons. Finding themselves with more room to maneuver, the creatures scattered into all directions. The redhead's blow struck a moment later, destroying a number of enemies but leaving dozens unaffected. What Homura saw when the smoke cleared made her gut wrench; Kyouko was standing in the deepest part of the crater she had just created, still slightly paralyzed due to the recharge time needed after such an all out blow. Meanwhile, the surviving demons poured in towards her.

"Shit," Homura swore, and dove into the chaos.

It appeared that Kyouko had managed to regain her motor functions a split second before the tide of enemies would have swamped her into oblivion, because Homura could see the occasional flashes of a crimson spear within the seething mass of demons. Sending a barrage of bolts at the enemies surrounding her companion to provide some breathing room, the shield user plunged into the middle of the struggle and struck the device on her weapon.

Time immediately froze around them, and Homura wasted none of it, pulling the pins on three grenades and chucking them in different directions. Glancing down swiftly to check her gauge, the girl was dismayed to find that she had eight seconds before her magic wore off. Too much had been expended on the previous hordes.

Dashing through the frozen enemies surrounding her, Homura dropped several more explosives until she had managed to run within arm's length of Kyouko. The timer on her shield snapped just then, and color rushed back in to fill the time. The roaring of the demons began to blast around her immediately, stinging her eardrums as she fought her way through the last remaining steps, at last pulling herself beside the redhead.

Kyouko seemed mildly surprised to note her sudden appearance. "Thanks," She gasped out, too preoccupied fending off the enemy. In a whirlwind of strikes, she spun several times and sent them recoiling for just a moment.

"Back to back!" Homura yelled over the cacophony, twisting and retreating until she felt the spear user's spine pressed against hers. Yanking three arrows out and nocking them all at once, she began to throw her entire arsenal into the monsters clamoring around them. Transparent claws and vicious fangs lashed out from all directions, their numbers seemingly endless. Homura suddenly understood how it felt to be herded rather than to be the herder.

Almost suffocating under the weight of her adversaries, she hunkered down and drove her shield forward, hoping to drive them back a few steps so she could breathe. Instead, the radius of her shield proved to be too narrow as several razor sharp claws leapt over the top rim of her defense. Realizing she wouldn't be able to react fast enough to dodge the attack, Homura flinched and looked away.

The pain did not come. Opening her eyes, she turned and saw that the bloodred shield which had been encasing Kyouko had now expanded, becoming large enough to accommodate both of them. Looking back, she saw the demons which had come so close to finishing her clawing at the unbreakable surface. It seemed that the walls kept things out, but she would still have to reach beyond its boundaries to kill. The sweat pouring down Kyouko's face made it obvious that maintaining such a large diameter was extremely taxing.

They had to end this quickly.

Taking a brief respite from the battle, Homura quickly opened a storage portal a reach inside it, pulling out a sleek submachine gun. She hadn't used mechanical weapons in a while, having grown accustomed to fighting at long ranges with her bow, but the situation called for it. Yanking the slide and feeling the first round chamber, she yelled and opened fire, spraying the bullets left, right, up, anywhere and everywhere, because no matter where she aimed there was a screaming demon there to eat the projectiles.

An empty click told her the clip was empty, and the demons multiplied tenfold within the time it took for her to reload and chamber another round. Homura's mind ran desperately through her options as her bullets were swallowed up by the seemingly endless tide of despair.

Well, there was an option, but she wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to resort to it.

Then the sound of Kyouko screaming assaulted her ears, and Homura saw the shield flicker for a moment, allowing an arm to reach in and slash the redhead's arm.

That was it. "Kyouko!" The black haired girl screamed, ignoring the honorifics. "Tighten the shield only around yourself! Strengthen it at all costs!"

"Are you fucking insane!?" The girl shouted back. "You'll die!"

"Just trust me!"

_Trust._ Something Homura didn't exactly believe in. And yet here she found herself, asking it of someone who had every reason to refuse.

But Kyouko nodded. "Okay," She said almost too softly to hear. The crimson shield's radius immediately began to shrink, and once it became too small to contain both of them, Homura did the unthinkable and spread her wings, spiraling upwards towards the moon. Several demons noticed this and separated from the main pack in hot pursuit, but it was already too late for them.

_I hope this doesn't cost the city too much money in damage,_ Homura thought as she opened twenty storage portals, allowing the military grade RPG launchers which emerged to hover almost peacefully around her.

Then, tightening her fist, she allowed them all to fire.

Over a dozen rocket propelled grenades burst from the tubes and dove, screaming, into the thundering mass below, impacting the ground and sending a spectacular crash through the air as Homura turned away and fled higher, needing to escape the shockwave which inevitably ensued. The roar of fire rumbled behind her and the agonized death cries of the demons inside bit at her ankles.

Once the shield user felt she had put enough distance between herself and any possible debris, she turned around and observed her handiwork.

Gone. The demons were all gone, the last of them only shimmering as they fragmented in the light. Craters riddled the decimated concrete of the square in which they had fought, and holes were scattered across the sides of nearby buildings. Several pillars of smoke were rising from the impact sites, and little chunks of obliterated stone were still raining down like unforgiving snow. The sound of the massive explosion was still echoing in the distance. It looked like an image straight out of some gritty war movie, except this was far from a product of fiction but reality, reality as stark and frank as it could possibly be.

And in the center of it all was Kyouko.

The redhead was turning three-sixties, stunned by the destruction she found around her, the crimson force field which had been the only thing between herself and death by fire shuddering and eventually winking out. Finally completing her observations, the redhead craned her neck to look up at her savior. Her lips formed words, and although Homura couldn't hear them, she knew what they were.

_Thank you._

_I filled my cup with the rising of the sea_

_And poured it out in an ocean of debris..._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter finished! It did take rather long to complete, considering that each addition to this story is longer than how I usually write. As for frequency of updates, I do plan to post new chapters on a biweekly schedule (or twice a month).<strong>

**I hope you enjoyed it so far! If it seems like nothing is really happening it's mostly because I'm setting the world and its circumstances up at the moment.**

**Do review! I motivates me greatly to receive feedback.**

**~Shrrg**


	3. Passively Evil

Chapter 3: Passively Evil

Shattered gravel scattered frantically in the wake of Homura's anger as she stalked through the alleys of the middle districts, the walls around her still smoking from the firepower she had unleashed upon them only moments earlier. Her inner sense told her exactly where the blonde Puella Magi was and that there was no real need to hurry, but Homura moved faster anyways, displaying a rare case of doing something unnecessary.

Yes, Akemi Homura was expending excess energy, something which should have thrown terror into the hearts of most. There were very, very few things in current existence which could push her even slightly over the edge, but one of these very few things had just decided to present itself.

Anger.

And not just any particular breed of anger either, but the kind which dug deep, thrashed at the most sensitive parts of one's inner fears, the kind that clearly identified the line and purposefully crossed it in all its mocking, infuriating power. Homura couldn't stop replaying the scene in her mind, the hot flash of irrational agitation which had ripped through her at the sight of Mami abandoning her post to exorcise a _man,_ an old man who never would have known the inconvenience he had caused and probably wouldn't care if he did.

And now look at what you've done, she thought, look at what you've done with your foolish obsession with justice and being helpful to others. Come back and look at the smoking crater fifty, sixty yards behind me now and tell me that one fragile old man not two winters from death was worth all of it. Tell me with a straight face that it was worth the blood running and drying up in rivulets down Kyouko's arm and the empty look in her eyes, her brain still rattled by the explosions which had screamed around her.

_Tell me, tell me, tell me!_ She thought almost rabidly, almost running now as Kyouko tried her best to keep up. Homura turned rapidly around the last corner and saw her, the older magical girl just finishing the exorcism and watching the broken demon rise out from the old man's soul and not even killing it, just sitting back and watching it go like it was a harmless bird and not a catalyst of death.

It was a humid night, and this part of the city had comparably poor sanitation, the corners shivering in the darkness with muck and stray sewage, the old man collapsed peacefully on the ground, fast asleep. Homura covered the distance between them quickly but decided to give Mami time to stand and explain herself, not out a desire to consider the blonde's argument, but a need to hear it then promptly destroy it.

The older girl continued staring at the old man for a moment longer, then flexed and rose to her feet. She turned and saw the other two magical girls just simply staring back at her, and in a show of folly which baffled Homura, offered them a winning smile.

"Good thing I got to him in time," She laughed.

The sound of contentment was cut off into a grunt when the black haired girl standing in front of her lashed out and seized her by the collar, bending her arm until they were face to face and Homura could blast the girl with her disapproval from as close as possible.

"What are you doing?" Mami protested, trying to twist out of the grip but yelping when Homura's second hand joined her first and she shook the girl once, twice, hard and jolting.

"_What am I doing?_" The shield user repeated scathingly, and Mami felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise. "I could ask the same thing of you a million times, and you would never be able to provide me with a satisfactory answer...Do you realize what happened once you abandoned your position?"

The words seemed to get through, and the blonde dropped her facade. Expression darkening somewhat, the gun wielder muttered, "Well you still made it, didn't you?"

"That's not what matters!" Homura spat in the girl's face, making her flinch and loving every nanosecond of it. "There's a ten foot deep _hole_ smoldering back there right now. And if you listen, you can hear the sirens wailing in the distance. The explosion must have been heard from the school two districts away, but I had to do it, because _somebody_ decided to turn around and help this little old man here!" She jabbed her finger at the frail body at their feet, knowing she shouldn't be feeling any animosity towards the stranger, but Homura hated him anyway because of what Mami had done for him.

The blonde bared her teeth and her fingers twitched as if they were itching to reach for the pistol sitting its holster at her hip, but thought better of it. "Well, what would you have wanted me to do? Leave him?"

"Yes!" Homura yelled, feeling her vocal cords straining from the high volumes they were not accustomed to. "How do you know we couldn't have helped him after the battle? He probably would still have been here, stumbling through the filth, and we could have helped him then. Together. Just like you always wanted, right?" The black haired girl said, but she made the initially pure wish seem naive and misguided. She suddenly let go of the older girl then, and Mami fell back a few steps at the unexpected move, quickly adjusting her collar.

Meanwhile, the wailing of the sirens grew closer.

"Guys," Kyouko voiced nervously, "We need to get out of here."

Homura ignored her. "But you didn't think about that, did you?" She whispered, her eyes full of judgement. "You pretend to fight for justice, and for the benefit of others, but really you're fulfilling a selfish wish for yourself."

"That's not true!" Mami abruptly burst out, sending a pair of rats scurrying away into the shadows. Homura raised her eyebrow and Kyouko gulped, the redhead uncharacteristically unnerved. The pastor's daughter was not used to seeing her friends fight with someone other than herself.

"That's not true," The blonde repeated, softly this time. The glow of her Soul Gem dimmed a fraction. "All I wanted was to help this man, nothing else-"

"At the possible expense of Kyouko's life?" Homura asked, the words not loud but cutting through the air like her arrows. "At the expense of vast sums of money in collateral damage? Even by your philosophy, in the overall run of things, your decision was irrational, and it placed us all in danger. Just admit it, Tomoe-san, you don't fight for justice in every shape or form..."

"...just the most convenient one."

Homura saw the blood leave Mami's face and knew she may be going to far, but simply couldn't stop herself, the sadistic side of her personality rising on the wave of anger from before and taking over all faculties. This girl had endangered the people Madoka had chosen to save, an insult that she would never allow to pass unattended.

"Hanezawa-san was her name, right?" The black haired girl continued, taking a step forward and fighting back a smile when Mami retreated in response. "I don't know her rather well, but she seems like a very nice girl...pretty, good with people, someone who leads a dull life. Basically everything you would ever want, am I right?"

"No..."

"That's why you do these things, isn't it? Why you are so against allowing the hospital hotspot to fester...you're just trying to convince yourself." The sirens were too close now, but Homura tried to block them out. "You were forced into a contract for fear of losing your life, and now you spent your days trying to prove that there was something meaningful, something _honorable_ in doing such a thing. As if in the end, it'll help you win back your humanity..."

Mami tore her eyes aware from Homura's and heard the sirens bearing down on them, and gasped, "We have to go-"

"You don't have to worry about such a thing," Homura continued regardless. "Magical girls are the most inhumane beings to walk this earth, but we are also the most human of them all, because for all the good we could do it will all be met with an equal amount of despair. It's all pointless, meaningless...there will never be an end until you learn to worry for only yourself and those beside you, those who will fight in your stead when you are defeated."

Homura saw the truth of her words warring with Mami's philosophies in the agony on the blonde's face. The sirens were really too close by now, and Kyouko was practically shouting at them by now that they had to leave. Mami turned to leave again and Homura did not stop her. The blonde was about to leap away and disappear over the rooftops when the shield user called out to her, and she looked back reluctantly.

"Will Hanezawa-san fight for you?" She asked.

And with the inquiry hanging in the air like a dying moth, she turned and melded into the shadows, Kyouko hesitating momentarily before following her. Mami gritted her teeth and leapt away herself.

_I don't want her to._

* * *

><p>Petals.<p>

The word flitted across Kiku's mind with the delicacy of the plant in question, dancing through her memories as if it were borne by the air slipping between her hair at that very moment. Opening her eyes and seeing the baby blue sky stretching above and behind her forever, she wondered how far that petal would fly before the wind left and it fell, helpless now in the hands of gravity, down to whatever lay awaiting it.

Yawning softly and looking down, the brunette saw the book laying open on her lap and remembered why she was on top of the roof to begin with. She enjoyed coming up here occasionally to enjoy a good story or simply contemplate in peace, finding the constant hubbub of society a bit too clamorous to allow for profound pondering. Not that she was someone who regularly indulged in such an obscure thing, as there weren't many experiences the girl had to draw on. The truth was that she just liked to fall asleep with the open sky above her.

Linking her fingers and stretching them above her head luxuriously, Kiku _hmmed_ and squinted at the cityscape far away in the distance. It really was quiet here. She could hardly hear the subways or the speech of the masses from here, like she was in a rocket hurtling away from the surface of the earth until there was nothing but empty space around her, completely devoid of disturbances save for her own contemplations. Sighing and letting her arms fall back to her sides, Kiku closed her eyes in hopes of recapturing the rapture of sleep.

But the voice in her head had other ideas. [_Aren't you going to continue reading?_]

Pursing her lips and twisting them briefly in annoyance, the girl peeled her eyes open again. This had been an ongoing issue for months now, starting from around the time fall had begun. It was a blight which followed her everywhere, constantly haunting her consciousness with its presence as if to taunt her because she couldn't detect any physical manifestation of it. It made her feel crazy, and crazy was generally considered to be a negative adjective in her society.

[_You really do sleep too much,_] The voice continued.

Kiku _tsked_ with her tongue and readjusted her grip on the novel she had been consuming. Well, perhaps she was being too harsh on the second consciousness which liked to visit the depths of her brain from time to time. After all, it seemed to harbor a decent respect for her privacy. And it had yet to place her under any particularly excrutiating circumstances.

Though of course, she actually would be genuinely insane to act like hearing voices in one's mind wasn't far from normal. Everyone knew the horror stories of schizophrenia and dementia, but as surreal as it felt to claim, Kiku didn't feel like her problem dealt with any of those areas of psychology. After all, if her brain was falling apart in such a manner, she most likely wouldn't have been aware of it. The personality which spoke to her from time to time felt very much like a separate individual, not something which had sprouted from within like a mental tumor.

[_Hello? Hanezawa-san?_] The voice pressed, which Kiku had fallen into the habit of calling Kage-san. After all, it was like her shadow had developed a life of its own.

Using her nail to skim some pages in search of her original spot in the story, the brunette thought back [_Alright, alright, I heard you the first time. You don't have to pester me so much._]

[_You have my apologies,_] Kage-san responded politely.

Kiku rediscovered the last page she had been reading before falling asleep and resumed her activities. After discovering that the voice in her head was not, in fact, a sign of her insanity, the girl had been naturally driven by curiosity to learn about this strange individual which seemed to exist within her thoughts. Investigations had proven to be surprisingly difficult. There was nothing physical for her to base any observations off of, and Kage-san's speech patterns were always rather flat and devoid of any particular emotion. After carrying this mental parasite around in her cranium for ten weeks, Kiku had only been able to nail down two apparent facts; one, he was exceedingly respectful, and two, his favorite subject was herself.

It was true. After deciding to find out more about Kage-san, Kiku had attempted to steer the topic of conversation towards the separate consciousness, but he had always seemed to catch on to this and turned the subject back to her in response. He wanted to know so many things about her, and they were never simple questions like what her favorite color was. No, they were always inquiries which really made her think, something she had been reluctant to do so often, as it was the only thing Kage-san ever wanted to talk about. Regardless, Kiku had soon realized that it was easier for her to indulge the invisible individual.

What was her opinion on death? It was a horrible thing, of course, losing a loved one or even someone you had just met on the street. But it was comforting in its own way, because it meant that person was finally save in the loving arms of God...

So she did place her faith in religion? Of course she did! In a world full of half truths and ambiguity, it was the only absolute guarantee in existence.

Then where did he fit in among her beliefs?

She hadn't been able to answer that.

[_I don't quite comprehend the actions of this Montag character,_] Kage-san quipped, although without any hint of hostility. [_Why does he insist on casting aside the luxuries of his world for the sake of a couple books? It seems to be a terribly misguided gamble_.]

Kiku turned the page. [_Well, to us humans, having a purpose in life is very important. Even if it seems small or insignificant. Everybody wants something to strive for._]

The voice went silent for a couple more pages. Then, [_What do you strive for?_]

Kiku just laughed out loud and brushed a long honey colored strand of hair behind her ear. [_I don't know, really. Something big, I guess._]

[_What would you say if I told you I could make that ambition a reality?_]

Her thumb paused for a moment while sliding under another page. Her shadow was prone to asking such questions quite often; questions which were totally against the current context and put her on the spot, as if to exact the ultimate answer. And yet, Kiku had yet to succeed in providing one.

Then the brunette realized she was taking too long to respond, and continued reading to buy another moment's time. [_I don't know. I don't need to worry about things like that. Such thing's don't happen._]

[_Oh, but they do._]

[_What do you mean?_]

[_Almost any wish can come true. So long as the energy is there to facilitate it. What do you wish for?_]

She had considered telling somebody about this. But what would she have said? And to who? Kiku could hardly come home from school one day and say, "Mother, sorry to bother you when you're so busy, but there's a polite voice in my head who wants to know where he fits in with the Divine Plan." There was no telling what sort of chaos that would instigate. Especially in her home. Her parents were not exactly the most considerate and protective people in the world. Rather, she would be in the car and on the way to a mental asylum before she could say "Let me explain." Kiku's mother and father didn't base their decisions off external evidence.

Just what they believed to be right.

_What do you wish for?_

Even now, Kiku couldn't help wishing that one of them would call her and demand to know where she was. For Christ's sake, school had ended two hours ago and she had come straight here, to this obscure roof which nobody else was really aware of or acknowledged. What if she was kidnapped? Or attacked by gangs? Questions which would have theoretically crossed the mind of a concerned and caring parent, but her guardians hardly fit that bill. No, her guardians didn't really find loving her to be a priority. They could only be bothered to dress her up nicely and send her off to school with a chipper smile and a spring in her step, but would never make sure that smile was genuine. It simply had to be there, regardless of the means deployed, to save face and reputation. Kiku never succeeded in keeping her heart from feeling hatred every time her mother hugged and kissed her and cooed sweet nothings in front of company, only to brush her aside the moment the door closed and there was a reliable barrier between them and the judgement of others.

They couldn't take her to the zoo for her seventh birthday because they were exhausted from work. They had to ask her aunt to attend her middle school graduation in their place because a business juggernaut wanted to speak with them and it could be their _big break_. They had to hire a nanny to raise their daughter while they were away until the wee hours of the night, and fire her when she began to question the extent to which they neglected their child, because really, what was more important? Their integrity or some silly nanny who didn't follow orders?

Kiku knew that some, if not most, would identify her parental troubles as the complaints of a spoiled child. After all, there were so many apparent positives to her existence. Even from her modest perspective she couldn't deny that she was rather popular among her peers, and boys her age or even not her age had a habit of growing overly affectionate towards her very quickly. Her teachers respected her and she had yet to make a genuine enemy other than herself. But it was all superficial, Kiku knew, because all the perceptions anyone had ever had of her were false, and she had no one else to blame but herself.

Nobody had really known who she really was, back then. She had tried, genuinely, to find someone who would listen. But no one was interested in the troubles of a distraught teenaged girl. They only wanted to see her pretty face, the peppy attitude. And it may have been due to a dash of cynicism on her part, but Kiku had begun to hate anyone who admired her. They weren't concerned with _her,_ just what she brought to the table. And even with that, what good was she to others, really? When a classmate's relative passed away, could her good grades help ease the grief? If gangs began to regularly attack the school, would her attractive smile chase them away? No. Everything that drew others to her was really worth nothing. Whether through arbitrary means or not, Kiku had arrived at this conclusion.

Nobody had really needed her.

That was, until Mami.

A bird sped by overhead and made the sun flicker above her for a moment, and Kiku blinked. It suddenly occurred to her that she had sat in silence without turning a page for much too long; Kage had yet to say anything, but she knew that the shadow was slightly offended by now. She could _feel_ it.

"Oh...uh, sorry," The brunette muttered, hastily continuing the story. But the shadow said nothing to her, and this internal silence continued as she absorbed page after page with frightening efficiency, as if she could out-read her blunder.

The consciousness inside of her waited until the beginning of the final chapter, _Burning Bright,_ to speak. [_You seemed troubled for a moment. Would you mind telling me what you were thinking about?_]

Kiku folded the page to mark her spot and closed the volume with a loud clap. Frowning and looking away as if Kage were sitting right beside her, she thought, [_It's nothing. Nothing that matters now, anyway. Don't worry about it._]

[_I'm not worried at all,_] The ever calm voice replied. [_But I could sense the disturbances within your psyche. And nothing has taken place to instigate such a change._]

Exhaling loudly through her nose, Kiku craned her neck back once again, towards the innocent clouds. So her shadow couldn't read her thoughts, after all. It only heard what she wanted it to hear. Really, there were endless questions she could ask about the nature of the individual which lived within her. But, as previously concluded, seeking outside help was not a very viable option. So she had decided to keep it to herself, in hopes that a solution would present itself in due time. But until that happened, she was alone in this.

Finally, the girl broke down and thought, [_I was just thinking about my parents, okay? I always go to places once school lets out, and they never so much as call to make sure I'm alright...as if they don't care. And they don't. But it's been like that for a long while now, so it doesn't really matter to me…and besides, I could never tell anyone about it, because they wouldn't want to hear it._]

[_Well, you could tell me about it._]

Kiku had zero intention of doing such a thing. Reading wasn't so common anymore as it had been at the turn of the century, seeing as virtually every form of literature had become digitalized and stored in computers, but she had always been an avid reader. And in her experience as an amateur litterateur, she had come across characters who were fooled by seemingly benevolent figures much too often. Not everyone who wanted to listen to your problems was genuinely concerned for you.

Besides, she didn't see the point in revisiting old issues. The agony she had gone through of feeling all alone in the world was something she had managed to put behind her, even if it had only been two years in reality. Things were different now; things were better. Most of the problems she had dealt with on the subject of friends and emotional connection had gone away. Mami had been the real catalyst to such a change, something Kiku rarely would admit due to her pride, but she had always known that she owed much of her current happiness to the blonde for what she had done.

But the specifics was not something she could tell to just anyone.

[_You don't trust me,_] Her shadow concluded on her own.

[_Well, sorry._]

[_No, I don't blame you. Trust is a very ambiguous thing, anyway. I prefer to make contracts.]_

Kiku didn't even bother trying to understand what her shadow could mean by that. As far as she was concerned, she considered Kage to be an alien. He talked and acted like a human, certainly, but there was something off about it at the same time, like the slight difference between the original and a faked copy. There was something missing there, something that didn't feel organic like a individual's life but cold, calculating. Her voice in her head had yet to wrong her, but Kiku had never been able to shake the suspicion that one day, it would.

[_But surely, you have someone you are able to confide in?_] Kage asked.

The sun was at the apex of its descent into the horizon, the last of its bleeding rays painting the buildings below her a brilliant crimson, as if the burning star were hanging onto the earth for its life. [_Of course I do. Mami-chan. I've told you about her before, haven't I?_]

[_Ah, of course,_] Her shadow agreed. [_I do know of Mami Tomoe-san. Your best friend, although I am not clear on the criteria used to judge the strength of associations between people. You two have known each other for a long while, yes?_]

Kiku couldn't help smiling at the thought of her friend. [_It's been a while, sure, but not extraordinarily long. I met her when we entered high school._]

Kage didn't say anything to that, but she felt the spark of interest there. [_Would you mind telling me about that? How you met Mami Tomoe-san._]

Kiku blushed sightly at the memory. [_Sorry, but no._]

[_Very well_.]

Her shadow withdrew from her mind then, like a passing thunderhead. Kiku had never actually found out if the foreign consciousness ever actually left her, or if it was constantly with her, only becoming accessible for conversation when it chose to be. The thought of it terrified her, so she tried to not to think about it.

Sighing, she began to gather her things and stuff them into her bag. It was about time to head home; the sun was almost completely set, and the city became malevolent at night. Even so, the brunette harbored a reluctance to return home; she didn't want to face the uncaring stares of her mother and father. She doubted they would even ask where she had been.

Once again, Kiku wondered where the voices in the head had come from, and what they wanted.

Then the fear sprouted within her that they would never leave, so she quickly squashed the thought. It didn't do to dwell on things one could no control. Until she figured out his true intentions, she would have to maintain her harmony with Kage-san. There was no telling what he was actually capable of.

As the girl began clicking down the steps which had led up to the rooftop, she remembered her shadow's question about how she and Mami had met. It had been beyond her comfort zone to divulge that information.

It wasn't very romantic to not keep one's motivations a secret.

* * *

><p>For the first time in a long while, Homura felt warm.<p>

She couldn't explain it at the given moment. She was wrapped under the thick coils of sleep, and said coils had no intention of letting her go willingly, but the girl harbored a strange desire to indulge for this. Slumber had always been such an arbitrary thing to her in the past, as she had seen it as nothing more than a necessity for survival. If it were possible to operate endlessly without rest, Homura probably would have done so. It had become infused within her very psyche after all those time leaps and failures, the idea that nothing mattered but the task at hand. No sacrifice had been too great to make. Indulgence had become incomprehensible to her.

But right now, she felt different. So utterly different that the girl didn't react adversely to it, instead letting it smother her further, because it felt so good, so _right,_ that despite the fact that Homura was unused to the warmth of another human being pressing against her, she could allow herself to embrace it. Murmuring something incoherent into something soft and downy, she buried her nose into whatever it was she was sleeping against, not even bothering to find out what it was because it had been eternity since she had been able to truly relax.

Homura was not, by nature, a callous and cold person. If anyone still retained memories from the original timeline before Madoka's wish, they would have described the black haired girl as timid and shy, though reliable and kind as well. These were not adjectives which came to mind when someone saw her at the present time, however, because of the scars her history had left in her face. It was true that Homura had changed drastically from the cowardly rookie she had been, but the efficient and uncaring personality she exhibited now was simply a layer built on top of what was already there. The naive version of herself still existed, hibernating underneath all the walls Homura had built around herself, emerging for only the briefest of moments when the girl showed an even rarer sign of vulnerability. This was one of those times, and if a third person had been present to observe her sleeping face, they would have described it with an unfitting word like _content._

Then as if the ruin the moment, Homura's eyes fluttered open.

The first thing she saw was a swath of red, something which confused her sleep-drunk mind enough to make her wonder what it was and who is belonged to. The brain sparked a bit and Homura wondered why she felt so groggy. She usually woke up already on full alert. Then an even stranger thing happened when the girl decided she really didn't care, instead opting to her nose against the soft curve of an ear.

That was enough to break her stupor.

Irises dilating, Homura's eyelids tore them self apart again as she took in the gentle sweep of the ear she had just been nuzzling, and beyond that, the slightly parted lips of the girl it belong to, and still beyond that, the steady rise and fall of her chest. She took this all in within the span of one single, electrifying second, the faint smell coming from Kyouko's hair that was almost undetectable but intoxicating once discovered, how steady and soft the redhead's breathing was when Homura had always imagined she would be a snorer. This bevy of evidence rushed forward all at once, clamoring to be examined, but only one question managed to formulate, and that was how the _hell_ she had fallen asleep on the couch intertwined with Kyouko.

At that moment, the other girl _hmmed_ in her sleep and twisted around a bit, making goosebumps erupt all over Homura's body when she felt their skin slide together in multiple places. A thin blanket was draped over both of them, forcing them to lay even closer together, and Homura suddenly found herself cursing the existence of said blanket.

Fighting the urge to cough, Homura forced herself to regulate her breathing, for fear of waking the redhead sleeping like a log not two centimeters from her nose. How in the world had they ended up like this? Frantically, the girl searched her memory for events from the previous night. She remembered the confrontation with Mami. And then flying home in her anger, ignoring the fact that Kyouko had chosen to follow her instead of the blonde. Then inviting the spear wielder into her home for a few minutes out of some odd compulsion for courtesy, an idea which had resulted in them talking most of the night away. She remembered breaking out the rum cakes at some point...

At that point Homura cursed. So _that_ was the culprit, the blasted rum cakes! She had been diligently staving herself off the damned treats for three weeks now, hoping to get over the obsession she had developed for them even since having one about a year before. But the conversation had taken off to an entirely new level, and she really hadn't planned on having guests...the rum cakes had been the only option.

Groaning inwardly, Homura shut her eyes. But since when did people get drunk and fall asleep off of _rum cakes_? She felt that their abilities as magical girls should have protected them from becoming intoxicated, at least to a certain extent, but then again sedatives and painkillers still worked on their bodily systems. Getting drunk essentially worked by the same principals. And the bodies of most fourteen year old girls weren't built for considerable consumption of alcoholic foods. Homura tried irritably to remember how many she had consumed. Six, seven slices maybe...

Kyouko softly muttered something under her breath, tearing the other girl back to the situation at hand.

Gulping, she weighed her options. It didn't seem likely that she could untangle herself without waking the redhead. Shifting slightly, Homura was rather dismayed to find that their legs were a hopeless knot under the thin blanket which had been draped over them at some point. Lightning bolts started going off inside the black haired girl's head. It wasn't like her to make such careless mistakes, and she knew it. Then again, it also wasn't like her to care about being embarrassed over such a petty thing like sharing a couch. Yet even as she told this to herself, her pulse was thundering in her ears, and an ice cube would have melted from the heat coming off her face in waves. Homura had been caught off guard and she knew it.

"Ehehe," Kyouko said in her sleep abruptly, making Homura flinch badly. After recovering from the brief shock, she was about to return to brooding over an escape plan when the older girl shifted around in her sleep and threw her right leg over Homura's body, effectively trapping her under its weight.

The heart and brain immediately flew into panic mode. She was being_ smothered_; she may have enjoyed the girl's warmth while she herself was also unconscious, but she would never stand for skin to skin contact with anybody but Madoka. Hands moving completely by reflex, Homura scrabbled for the Soul Gem sitting in her pocket and summoned part of her magic, freezing time almost immediately. In the split second before the ability took effect, she saw that the movement had woken Kyouko up. Moving nimbly, the black haired girl thrashed and struggled until she managed to slip out from under the redhead's weight, tripping and tumbling onto the wooden floor below as her magic automatically cancelled itself out.

Twisting swiftly, Homura got her feet under her and stood up as gracefully as she could, two fingers reaching up to fix her already messy morning hair. Kyouko, meanwhile, groaned at the rowdy awakening and kicked at the blanket for a moment, trying to find her bearings. The redhead eventually opened her eyes and saw the unfamiliar ceiling above her, which prompted her to sit up abruptly and look around like a frightened rabbit. Her crimson eyes fell on the couch's owner, and silence pervaded the air for just a moment as the two girls stared at each other.

Kyouko wast the first to break the silence. "Don't tell me..." She muttered, the realization dawning on her face.

Homura had to try very, very hard to fight back a rather strong blush and looked away at the floor. "Don't worry about it."

"Hope I didn't suffocate you," The older girl replied somewhat playfully, knowing how awkward the atmosphere had just become and trying to amend it. "You mow down demons like a lawn mower, but you're still hanging around five feet, aren't you?"

Homura, who had graciously been given the opportunity to compose herself completely, met the earnest jibe with her usual blank stare, although it was tainted by a faint smile. "I'm five foot two, if I do say so myself. Not terribly short."

"Well, you could still do with some more growing," Kyouko replied as if this were a matter of fact, reaching for her shoulder to push the strap of her tank top back to its proper place. Homura's eyes tracked this movement but quickly ceased doing so, finding it oddly vulgar. The redhead had seemingly cast aside her standard jacket; she could see it lying on the floor nearby. Her own school uniform had been made much less formal, the light brown coat gone and the white shirt underneath undone for the first three buttons. Homura shifted, a bit uncomfortable. Her skirt was rumpled and creased from the less than accommodating conditions she had slept in. It didn't help that Kyouko was shamelessly looking at her all over.

The older girl smirked. "Haven't ever seen you dressed casual before. You go hunting like it's a job interview instead. Hope the two of us didn't do anything we're going to regret last night, eh?"

Homura frowned. "Please don't suggest such things."

Kyouko laughed nervously at the totally unamused tone of voice. "Alright, sorry. But really, I apologize. It was probably my fault that we got drunk so easily off those cakes...my magic is in the illusionary category, so just being around me while I'm intoxicated can be trouble. I should have told you about it beforehand. It's caused me more than enough issues in the past."

The shield user raised an eyebrow skeptically, moving to sit cross-legged on the floor. "You regularly consume alcohol?"

Kyouko blushed. "Of course not! Well, not regularly at least," The girl admitted. "Mostly right after making my wish. I was going through a hard time, you know? And I've never been above stealing. People do what they can."

Homura nodded in understanding. Of course, she knew that magical girls couldn't be judged by the same standards as normal humans. Even when it came to the topic of drugs and alcohol, she was sure there was some Puella Magi out there who was justified in abusing them, at least to some extent. In fact, she considered magical girls like Mami and Kyouko to be very tame cases; the only thing the redhead had done which was nonconforming with society was drop school, and the blonde still regularly attended classes, although her grades were rather dismal. Kyouko had told them both the horror stories of other Puella Magi, beyond the city's borders; how lawless it was in other regions, where nobody worked together or at least respected each others' boundaries, and the way they all degenerated into animals to survive.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the rabid growling of a certain's girl's stomach. Kyouko chuckled and patted her abdomen, grinning rather sheepishly. "Sorry, but would you mind if I had some breakfast before heading out? Otherwise I'd be forced to raid a Yakuza hideout..."

Homura managed a wider smile this time and stood back up.

"Come with me."

* * *

><p>Half an hour later, Kyouko was wolfing down a bowl of ramen and chilled tea while her friend sat across the small eating table, consuming her own (noticeably smaller) portion of the noodles with a bit more poise. Homura couldn't help feeling a bit amused at the sight of someone consuming food like it was their last meal; she preached composure and calmness, but there was still a certain entertainment in seeing how animated people could become.<p>

The sun was streaming in through the windows, another unusually sunny day when winter had just begun. The black haired girl sipped at her bowl for a moment before staring out past the glass at the world beyond it. Fortunately, today was Saturday; otherwise she would have woken up two hours late for first period. Homura wasn't used to waking up so late in the day. She had learned over time to place her bodily clock under strict discipline, and rare was the day where she rose after six-thirty in the morning. Yet here she was, sitting and eating ramen without having brushed her teeth, hair still tangled at the ends and clothes still on and wrinkled from the previous day. She felt awfully sloppy.

Blinking and shaking her head, Homura looked back across the table at the catalyst of all these irregularities.

Kyouko had just finished her hefty serving of ramen and was wiping her mouth with a napkin, leaning back into the chair and sighing in content. Then she looked over and saw that Homura had slowed down considerably in the pace of her eating, and pointed at the smaller bowl, asking, "You going to finish that?"

"Probably not," She answered honestly. "My stomach is off schedule."

"Never waste food," The redhead lectured, reaching across the table to retrieve the unfinished noodles from their potential waster. "It's a sin."

"I'm not religious," Homura replied, saying it in a way that made the other girl wonder if she was trying to be amusingly sarcastic. In either case, she needed practice.

"Hmm," Kyouko said, slurping up the second serving. "Well, I don't blame you. Most magical girls aren't. I mean, it's kind of hard to keep your faith when there's demons and possessed old men floating all over the place, right?" She set down the bowl. "Makes me feel stupid sometimes, since I still consider myself a Christian. Like I'm more naive than I think. And I hate naive people."

Homura shrugged and began to absentmindedly clean her chopsticks. "Well, we shouldn't judge each others' motivations. So long as they don't interfere with our lifestyles. It doesn't matter to me if you're a Christian or not; I wouldn't find you naive in either case, despite how we might have felt about each other before."

The spear wielder half grinned. "I know. You aren't petty like that. It just makes me feel silly sometimes, because religion is the whole reason I'm caught up in this "magical girl" bullshit...yet I still cling to it when I need to."

"At least you practice moderation," Homura muttered, a dark thought or two entering her mind. "Unlike some other people I know."

Kyouko blinked. "You mean Mami? Well..." She rolled that around in her mouth for a moment. "She's got a head on her shoulders too, you know."

"I would be inclined to disagree," Homura replied curtly, standing up and collecting both bowls and their utensils to take to the sink. She let the silence hang while she took the dishes to their station, dropping them into the hollowed out boxes before starting the water. "I'm still appalled at how much of a fool she was yesterday. She made a completely unnecessary gamble that threw us all into a vulnerable position. There would have been no problems if we simply exorcised that old man after the horde had been cleared."

Homura knew that she was currently insulting Kyouko's closest friend, but she trusted the redhead to understand her point of view. She herself knew that the other two were more emotionally driven then she was, which explained the majority of their actions, and by the same hand Kyouko knew how calculating she was. Mami, however...she doubted that girl understood anything.

"I can't say that what Mami did wasn't stupid," Kyouko said, rising from her own seat and walking over to help with the cleaning. "Because it was _very_ stupid. But have you ever thought that she simply doesn't have control over it? People grow up, and they mix with each other...things like that are bound to happen. You can't always control who or what you have to fight for. I'm pretty sure all three of us made our wishes because there was no other alternative. Don't you think she just wants back her right to make a choice?"

"When a politician pledges to support the health of the environment, is he genuinely concerned for nature or is he simply attempting to appease to the liberals?" Homura replied, systematically scrubbing at the inside of a bowl; there were more dishes than usual, seeing as she had been unable to do them the night before. "Most likely, it's just a guise to ensure his victory. Tomoe-san doesn't fight solely for justice, even though she insists that she does. I can't say that it doesn't drive any part of her philosophy, but it certainly isn't the central force."

Kyouko paused in her share of the cleaning, trying her best to process this. "Then what is?"

Homura reached out and shut off the steady stream of water, the dishes on her end all clean. Grabbing a towel to dry her hands, she turned away and murmured, "Selfishness."

She heard Kyouko go silent behind her and knew that she must have offended the girl. But she had to voice her opinion, just this once, because if the three of them were ever going to exist in harmony, they all had to see and know things as they were. Homura understood very well that nobody liked to have their beliefs questioned; anyone simply had to sit down with a priest for a few minutes and glorify atheism to know what she meant. But it was still necessary.

"But we're all selfish, aren't we?" The older girl's voice spoke suddenly, surprising Homura with how amused it sounded. Turning, she saw the redhead simply smiling back at her, the dishes left untouched. "Everybody's selfish. Humans, they're so selfish it's disgusting. But it's what makes people people, I think..." She paused for more words, unused to expressing her opinions verbally. Kyouko usually voiced her thoughts through spear and chain.

Homura sighed and handed the towel to the older girl. "If that's the case, why does Tomoe-san struggle with the prospect of losing her humanity? You may not have caught on to it last night, but I saw the fear on her face." She paused. "When I suggested it, I saw the guilt there. And when I spoke through the mental link to her about the hotspot, the consciousness almost cut me off because her emotions were out of control."

"You were probably provoking her," Kyouko guessed.

"Maybe. But guess who was there with her at the time? A classmate, a girl who goes by the name of Kiku Hanezawa. I admit that I don't know the specifics of their relationship, but it can be assumed that they are good friends. And when I suggested that perhaps the topic at hand was more important than her friend at the moment, I felt her rage over the thought waves. And it concerns me."

Outside, a passing cloud shielded the sun from the world looking up to it, plunging the interior of the room in semi-darkness. Briefly, Homura thought back to the days before she had reunited with the other Puella Magi. About the curiosity which had partly driven her to seek reconcilement. Why had Madoka chosen to bring back these two? And for what reasons? She had expected to find out in due time. Yet here she was, more confused than ever.

_Why, Madoka?_ Homura thought, closing her eyes for a split second. _What are you trying to tell me?_

She thought she felt her longtime friend respond with a featherlight brush against her mind, and shivered.

Kyouko eyed her. "What's wrong? You cold?"

Homura was pulled back to reality. "...No," She murmured. It was difficult to bring up the subject of Madoka to anyone else. After all, she had never _existed_ to anyone else. Homura's being the only one able to recall memories of the pink haired girl was both a blessing and a curse. Thanks to it, she was never alone, but simultaneously, she was more isolated than anyone.

Kyouko walked back to the couch and retrieved her jacket, slipping into it. "We all fight for something. I chose my family. Mami just chose everyone else. It's the same thing, just bigger, not different at all. You fight for somebody too, right? Her name was..." The redhead silently wracked her brains.

"...Madoka."

She nodded. "Right. Madoka. So you and Mami are more alike than both of you think, I'd imagine."

"But that's different," Homura protested in a rare display of emotion, ignoring her surprise over the fact that Kyouko had chosen to broach such a sensitive topic. "Tomoe choses to sacrifice herself for ordinary people, individuals who don't know her and never will. Madoka isn't like that. She's special. She's..." The girl paused then, unwilling to sound crazy to anyone else again.

Kyouko just smiled at her again, but more sadly this time. "A god, right? That's what you said before."

Homura closed her eyes and rubbed at the temples. "Yes. An all knowing, omnipresent manifestation of a concept. Just like your faith in Heaven and its creator, I can't force you to accept that she's here, around us, in the air we're breathing right now. I can't force you. But at the very least, she's different. She's _invincible_."

The redhead shook her head, the same sad smile still on her face as she zipped up her jacket halfway.

"Nothing's invincible if it needs protecting."

* * *

><p><strong>New chapter up! I'm actually rather surprised I managed to keep my promise of a biweekly upload schedule, although two weeks is actually plenty of time.<strong>

**This chapter had less going on in it, since it was mostly dialogue. I do plan to make things pick up, however.**

**I did scrap a couple drafts of this chapter, though. I was originally going to include moments from Kiku's past, but decided not to. Do you guys like her OC? I'm not entirely sure because I lack experience with them. If you have any constructive criticism for her character, please leave it in the reviews! I do read them all.**

**~Shrrg**


	4. Only a Crack

Chapter 4: Only a Crack

Indistinct chatter clattered around Homura's ears as she took the almost monotonous trek to school, hearing the early bell chime its mechanical beat over the air like a drunk fairy. Everyone who attended the school felt drunk to her, to be honest. The innocent bliss on their faces was a bit too much to believe at times, especially now.

She grunted when the crowd of girls shifted and jostled around her, pushing her from side the side for a few moments. Besides the solitary nature of her social standing at school, Homura knew better than to totally isolate herself from others. So she usually made sure to join a big group of rather accommodating classmates before passing through the gates, to at least emulate an appearance of sociability. Nine tenths of perceptions when it came to people were based on observational assumptions, anyway. Most individuals were too lazy to look any further than that. Still, she had to wonder occasionally if it was worth having to suffocate within this mass of human flesh. Homura was a tad bit claustrophobic.

"Isn't that right, Akari-chan?"

"Of course!"

Homura had to roll her eyes at the pointless discourse being flung around her head. Really, if she could be bothered to take the time to remove everything unnecessary these girls had ever uttered, they would probably have been mute for the first decade of their lives. She wasn't exactly berating the intelligence of her contemporaries, but it was painfully obvious that not much had happened in their lives for them to discuss.

Not that she didn't long for that herself, once in a while.

Nevertheless, Homura sighed in mock relief when they passed through the gates and the tight crowd of girls diffused throughout the campus, headed for their morning classes. She never bothered to participate in the aimless conversations, figuring her presence to be more than enough effort, but this meant listening that much more. Rubbing at her temples, she then drew her fingers through her midnight locks before glancing up briefly towards the clock tower. Something standing near the elevated position caught the girl's eye, then, and when she looked the shapely figure of Mami Tomoe was clearly outlined against the burgeoning sky. The blonde was standing atop the roof of the secondary building, not bothering to clip down the ribbons in her hair which were flapping wildly in the early morning wind. Homura paused in her movements and gave the time to stare straight back, her face emotionless for just a second before splitting into a satirical smile.

[_Sleep well last night?_] Homura asked through telepathy, the receiver of her thoughts just within the range of communication.

Mami didn't respond, simply sending back a brush of steaming anger, but it was enough to satisfy the younger Puella Magi. Smiling contentedly, Homura looked away and walked calmly into the first building, heading for homeroom. The blonde narrowed her eyes at the door where her adversary had disappeared, as if she could will her to return and face off properly. But this never happened, and the older girl was forced to turn back and meld into the shadows behind the walls.

Inside, Homura brushed wordlessly past her classmates, heading straight for the desk without looking around or making eye contact. Normally she would have nodded at a few girls she could respect passably, but she didn't bother today. Setting her things on the usual assigned desk and sitting down, Homura reached into her breast pocket and pulled out a piece of paper which had been folded over several times. Making sure that nobody was snooping on her intently, the girl began to unfold the note. It wouldn't be the end of the world if somebody happened to see the contents of the paper, seeing as not many individuals would be able to understand what it was, but the best way to avoid questions was to keep them from being asked to begin with.

The old, worn paper crinkled comfortably under her fingers as she spread it out, smoothing over the deep creases crisscrossing the white surface. Two black eyes took in the red lines dotting various spots here and there; it was a small map of the southwestern districts of Mitakihara, with its focal point set at the local hospital there. She had taken a larger map of the entire city and cut out this specific area of it, for the purpose of marking the progress of the region's festering. Yes, this was what she and Tomoe had originally conflicted over; the hotspot which she personally wanted to leave alone, so that they may eliminate large numbers of demons in one fell swoop.

The stubborn blonde had far from agreed to her idea, however. The hospital at the center was the main catalyst, as it was the only major medical institution within a relatively poverty stricken-area. Meaning the majority of injured citizens were staying there, an ideal breeding ground of despair and thusly, demons. Even before Homura had reunited with the other two Puella Magi, she had been routinely keeping the districts surrounding the hotspot demon-free, in an effort to fence in the demons she decided to ignore, and so far the technique had born fruit. Kyubey had yet to report any activity near the hotspot after she had sent him on several reconnaissance missions. She wasn't about to let Mami negate all her hard work.

Unscrewing a bright red pen, the black haired girl added a few fresh marks to the paper. She had half expected Mami to do something extreme after finding about the hotspot itself, such as diving into the middle of the southwestern district to clean out the whole area, but no such thing had happened. For the blonde's safety, this was probably best. The region had been festering for months on end already, so trying to take on the massive amount of demons probably inhabiting the streets would have been suicide. It wouldn't have been the same as taking on random packs during nightly hunts. These demons were _concentrated._ Like rats trapped in a cold garage for years. Mami had also tried to question Homura's morality at accepting such a plan, but even this accusation felt invalid to the shield user. After all, there was nothing she could do to help the residents of the hotspot. She couldn't solve their financial or living or health problems, and the only thing she could do for them was kill demons. After another month of waiting, she and Kyouko would clear out the entire district, with or without Mami's help. Anybody should be grateful for a few months with zero demon activity.

Internally, she decided to check on the hotspot herself after school ended that day. She couldn't entirely trust Kyubey's judgement; it may have its own reasons to lie to her. It wouldn't be a long journey, seeing as their school was in the center of the entire city, in order to make it accessible to all districts, so she was as close to the southwestern as she was to any other part of the city.

The door rattled and the chatter died down for a moment when the homeroom teacher walked in.

"Alright, so today we will be learning..."

The rest of the day slipped by as it always did. First and second period, break, third and fourth. Homura had seen the high school anime and drama about the difficulties of contemporary education, all of which usually had a character who struggled to perform at school. She had personally never understood such characters. Ninety percent of high school level education was paying attention and jumping through the hoops which were placed in front of you, after all.

The lunch bell rang, and Homura made the daily walk to her locker to trade out books for nourishment. Her recent quarrel with a certain blonde was still lurking at the back of her mind, but she wasn't giving it any particular mind. It wasn't like her to steam over things, mostly because she was the one making others steam. And Mami was steaming right now, that much Homura was sure of, and that was enough for her. The only reason why Christians became offended by nonbelievers was because they proved that faith had its flaws. Then she remembered Kyouko was a Christian and felt a small stab of guilt. It didn't feel right to ridicule her friend's lifestyle.

Her friend.

Were she and Kyouko friends? Homura really didn't know. Others might not have guessed it, but she had a very profound understanding of what friendship was. Anybody simply had to look at her relationship with Madoka to understand, but the problem was nobody could actually do that as so she was viewed as a loner. But Homura preferred it that way. Still, her bonds with both Madoka and Kyouko were different in that they were magical girls, just like her. Somebody had said that most friendships are born from similar interests or situations, which supported the hypothesis that she and Sakura-san _were_ true friends...but was that really an absolute rule of thumb? She had told Mami in the alleys that friends were people who would fight for you, even if it meant going against you, and Homura supposed Kyouko was willing to do that for her. She didn't really know, though.

_Am I over thinking it?_ She wondered briefly, closing the locker and turning to go to her usual spot for lunch. Maybe being friends with someone wasn't as monumental as she thought it was. To be frank, Homura had a very small sample to base judgements off of. She had had difficulty speaking with others due to her shy disposition, and her relationship with Madoka could never be described as normal. So it wasn't realistic for Homura to instinctively know whether she and Kyouko were friends or simply two people under the same problem. But then she remembered something someone else had said, maybe in a show somewhere:

_You don't just know when you become friends with someone. You just look up one day and realize that you are._

Shaking her head, Homura turned the corner. She really didn't know. To be honest, they hadn't spent much time together in this timeline either. So there hadn't been much opportunity to determine the true nature of their bond. Or so she claimed, as the memory of a certain couch decided to pervade her memory, forcing a small blush.

Her momentary embarrassment was cut off when she saw someone paused at the end of the hall, arms crossed and staring intently in her direction. Pausing, she looked up and saw a certain blonde standing stationary ten yards in front of her. Smirking and regaining her steps, Homura closed the distance between them until they could feel each other breathing, not even looking the third year in the eye as she attempted to brush past. But this was impeded when Mami turned and seized her by the elbow. Forced to skid to a halt, the black haired girl turned slowly to face her opponent.

"What makes you think you can just walk past me like that?" The blonde hissed, tightening her grip.

Homura just smiled back amiably. "Nothing at all. Why? Were you expecting something?"

The older girl narrowed her eyes. The hall had emptied out by now. "Don't just think you can say the things you say and walk away from it every time. The world is bigger than yourself and what you want, you know. Just because it doesn't affect your goals doesn't mean it doesn't matter."

"What, like elderly men enjoying the night air?" The black haired girl slicked back, twisting until the blonde was forced to let her go. "I wouldn't be surprised to learn that you tried to raise your parents before crawling out of the crib yourself. You almost killed Kyouko back there."

"Oh, so now you're suddenly so worried about her?" Mami snapped back, advancing so their eyes could clash. "Convenient, because she's so precious to you, right? Don't make up excuses, Akemi. "You're just out to get me, aren't you?"

Homura bared her teeth and balled her fists, making the older girl step back a small fraction. "You have no right to say such things. Nothing can justify your mistake. It just makes you seem like more of a fool to defend yourself even when you're clearly at fault. You gave into impulse and it cost you. Admit it! Nobody is free of that mistake. Not even myself. You're far from the perfect being you strive to be."

Mami had gone silent by this point, and was simply staring at her, wordless. Suddenly, Homura wondered if she had pushed the girl too far. She had had no intention of being lenient with the blonde, but inducing another breakup between them was far from ideal.

Regardless, Tomoe just gritted her teeth and looked away at the ground. "You don't know what you're talking about," She growled. Whirling on her heel and walking past her underclassman, she muttered, "I won't be coming to the hunt tonight. I'll go hunt in another district," Before disappearing down the hall.

_Good. We don't want you there._

After Homura heard the footsteps fade away for good in the distance, she at last allowed her shoulders to sag. She enjoyed putting Mami in her place, but sometimes it was a bit exhausting to do. But really, she couldn't allow this to continue. Constant infighting among them would only lead to more conflicts. Yet what was she to do? Accept the blonde's ridiculous philosophy of a justice which wasn't even genuine? That wasn't an option. No, Tomoe had to learn for herself that her way of thinking was wrong, but Homura had no idea on how to facilitate this.

Then, unknowingly to both of them, the answer presented itself.

Pausing, Homura lifted her head and turned to stare at the nearby corner, saying, "You can come out now. I know you're there."

There was a rustle of clothing and a muffled cough as the eavesdropper was caught in the act, and Homura crossed her arms and waited as a tall third year sheepishly revealed herself from the shadows. The black haired girl took in the girl's sparkling chocolate colored hair and recognized her immediately.

"Hanezawa-san," She sighed, "What are you doing here?"

"Eh?" The upperclassman stumbled for words for a moment, apparently still shaken at her discovery. "Um...I was looking for Mami, because we always share lunch together, you know, and you two seemed to be discussing something important..."

Homura frowned. So this girl had overheard their conversation? Well, she didn't expect it to become a problem. Hanezawa most likely would have been unable to understand anything they had been talking about. Still, she didn't like the fact that they had been overheard. It felt like this outsider had managed to peek inside of her.

"Well, it wasn't anything particularly dire," The black haired girl replied, cooly uncrossing her arms. "Why don't you follow her, then? I believe she went off to meet you."

The brunette seemed to consider this for a moment before shaking her head, offering a small attractive smile. "No, I don't think I will. She looked pretty upset. For anyone else I would have gone to help them immediately, but Mami-chan's different, you know? I find it's best to leave her be for a little while when she's mad."

Homura pursed her lips, already slightly bored with the conversation. "I see. You must know her very well, then."

The other girl laughed, a high, tinkly sound. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. She's my best friend." Then she paused, staring. "Are you...close with Mami-chan as well?"

She had to roll her eyes at that one. Mostly because she didn't know how she genuinely wanted to answer. _Oh yes, of course. We hang out and kill demons every night! _As if she could say something like that. So she just shrugged and said, "We're...connected through several mutual projects, I suppose you could say."

"Oh," Hanezawa said dumbly. "I see the two of you talking alot at random moments sometimes, so I thought you were good friends. Are you going to eat lunch, Akemi-san?" She added, pointing at the box the black haired girl was holding.

Homura looked down at it. "Yes. Why?"

The upperclassman grinned. "Mind if I joined you?"

"...Why?"

The brunette just shrugged. "My usual lunch partner isn't available at the moment," She said jokingly. "And I don't know...I'm just sort of curious about you, I think. And the best way to learn about someone is to talk to them. So I'd be honored if you would accommodate me."

Homura eyed the oddball of a girl standing smiling in front of her. Yet another peer who operated on principles she would never begin to understand. But then, she remembered the curiosity which had driven her to meet Kyouko again. A desire to understand them, and why they had been saved. Perhaps the same kind of curiosity was driving Hanezawa? If so, she couldn't entirely blame the girl.

Tilting her head in acceptance, she said, "Very well. Come with me."

* * *

><p>"You have a key to the school roof?" Hanezawa asked in surprise as the two of them stood at the highest level of stairs in the entire school, Homura calmly pushing the key into its proper place.<p>

"Yes. I can't really tell you how I got it, though," The younger girl replied earnestly.

"Shady business, eh? I like that," Kiku said in an attempted joke, but Homura failed to show any amusement, making the upperclassman pout a bit. Rolling her eyes again, she keyed the door and pushed it open, letting the sunlight outside rush in. The black haired girl briefly hoped she wouldn't run into another prospective romantic up here again.

Thankfully, the rooftop was empty, save for the air slipping between the chain link fences surrounding the exterior. There was a flower box sitting against the edge of the concrete, some of its flowers blooming while the rest continued to wither away. Homura passed through the door with Kiku following, walking to the bench she habitually ate at and sitting down. There was another bench facing across hers, and she expected the brunette to take that one, so Homura was surprised when her upperclassman decided to take a seat beside her. She did not comment on it, however, and simply began to unpack her meal; a simple set of rolls.

Hanezawa was about to attempt to strike up a conversation herself when a familiar consciousness rose and melded with hers.

[_I was not aware you and Akemi-san were acquainted,_] Kage's voice murmured inside her skull.

The brunette bit her tongue, severing the coming words where they stood. [_We weren't really, till just now. She seems like a nice enough person. Not awfully emotional, but nice. Don't you think?_]

[_I don't usually take the time to make such judgements of character,_] Her shadow responded. [_But it may be best to avoid this girl_.]

[_Why?_]

There was slight pause. Then: [_It would be...inconvenient. For both you and me. But ultimately, the choice is yours._]

Then he was gone before she could say anything.

Blinking herself back to reality, Hanezawa discreetly glanced at the shorter girl sitting beside her and realized that they had been sitting in apparent silence for a few minutes now. A small stab of guilt blossomed inside her breast. It must be awkward for her underclassman. The black haired girl was calmly eating her rolls without saying a word, but it couldn't be said whether this was from actual poise or nervous silence. Kiku didn't know that much about her yet.

Clearing her throat, the older girl said somewhat sheepishly, "So...some nice plants we got there, huh?"

Akemi paused in her eating to toss a cursory glance at the plant life. "Most of them are dying," She replied cooly.

Kiku looked over and was dismayed to find that her underclassman was right. The awkwardness that she had initially detected on Akemi was now festering inside of her own chest. She hadn't really believed the rumors about Akemi Homura and her legendary coolness, finding such talk to be hardly credible, but it seemed that she would have to reconsider her position. The black haired student hadn't said or done anything to make the atmosphere tense, in fact she was rather polite, but there was something in the way she carried herself, the aura she exuded that put other people on alert.

"...Oh," Kiku saved, laughing nervously. "Maybe I should have looked first."

"That's alright," Homura replied. "Most people don't."

The older girl paused. "What do you mean?"

The black haired girl just shrugged, chewing thoughtfully on a roll. Kiku really wondered if the girl was just stoic or honestly didn't care for the conversation at hand. "Nothing important. Just something I see often in people. They tend to commit to things without thinking. It's quite irritating, really."

Kiku chewed on this idea for a few moments. Beyond the fence, a bird coughed uncomfortably. "Well, I guess I know what you mean," She reasoned. It felt odd; she hadn't expected Akemi to be one to think about abstract topics. She seemed like such an objective person. "But I don't think it's that big a problem. Some great things happen by chance, right?"

Homura just shook her head. "From my experience, it isn't worth the risk."

"Hmm..." Kiku hummed, leaning back on her hands to stare up at the open expanse above her. "That's a pretty heavy statement to make, for someone so young. You sure you're right on that?"

The underclassman paused in her chewing. "Yes. Of course. It doesn't matter how long I've been alive. My decisions are probably based in more information that most people, anyways."

Hanezawa had to swallow. It was ridiculously difficult to pose as an older figure to this girl. Kiku wasn't someone who habitually played the "senpai" card, but she had thought it might help lighten the mood in this situation. The black haired girl had thoroughly denied her that, however. Briefly, she wondered why she was even here to begin with. Then she remembered her best friend's steaming anger, and her curiosity at its cause.

"You talk like an elderly woman," Kiku laughed. "What's happened to make you think like that, eh? I thought our generation was supposed to be the most liberal one ever."

Homura abruptly let her chopsticks clack together, making her upperclassman jump just slightly. Turning, the girl looked the brunette in the eye, a small spark of sadism residing in her own. "Perhaps. But certain truths can't be denied. Take your friend, Tomoe-san, for example; terribly brazen, never thinks things through. It is people like her who helped to fortify my opinion."

Kiku raised an eyebrow. "I thought you two weren't that close?"

Homura shrugged again. "You don't need to be intimate with someone to understand them. I understood that girl the moment we met. And I learned to be wary of her."

Kiku felt a small wave of offense at the underclassman's harsh judgement towards her friend. It felt wrong to hear, but she did not offer her opposition. "Well, I can't say she doesn't run on her instincts," She said graciously. "But is that really such a bad thing? Those people who always mull over everything before taking action...sometimes all that waiting hurts them. Or makes them awfully stubborn."

Homura snorted. "Well then, Hanezawa-san, let me offer you a hypothesis: if you were in danger, and Tomoe-san was the only one capable of saving you, would you want it? If it meant her risking her life?"

The brunette smiled again, a movement which bothered Homura for reasons she could not pinpoint. "No."

The shield user nodded. "Precisely. Because it is foolish and naive, and jointly, irritating."

"No," Kiku repeated.

Homura looked up in surprise.

"No," The older girl said a third time. "Even if that's why she would come to save me, I have no say in it, even after all this time I've spent with her. You can't dictate what other people choose to protect and fight for. You probably aren't aware of it, but Mami-chan taught me that a long time ago." She smiled again. "If coming to save me meant risking her life, I wouldn't want Mami to do it. But not for the reasons you assume. It isn't because the decision is most likely based on blind judgement, but because I'd worry for her."

Homura narrowed her eyes. "That's folly."

"I don't think so. Mami can think however she likes; as her friend, I can accept anything she decides on. But not if it means sacrificing herself for anyone, especially me. People shouldn't give their lives to others. I see it happen sometimes, and it breaks my heart; when my grandmother died, my grandfather spent five years mourning her before passing away himself. The last five years he would ever live, all spent on another person. No matter how much they loved each other, I'll always feel like those years were wasted." Kiku paused. "That's why I think any reason to fight is fine, except self sacrifice. Because that one's based on the most selfishness, not whatever you would like to accuse Mami of having."

The last of those words left her mouth, and a deafening silence settled in between them both. With a sudden shock, Kiku knew that she had gone too far. Surely, it had all been in defense of Mami, but she had basically just gone off to someone she had just met. Biting her lip, she looked down at Homura.

But the younger girl didn't seem angry. Instead she was nodding slowly.

"I can see the merits of your point of view," She replied. "I might not necessarily agree, but I can understand it. Only time will tell which one of us is right."

Kiku, still a bit surprised at her underclassman's inherent poise, could only smile again.

"It's always been that way."

* * *

><p>An agonized shriek filled the night sky when Kyouko's crimson spear split down the middle, the last few wisps of despair fading away like a fleeing cloud of moths. The weapon's owner let out a deep exhale she hadn't know she was holding before relaxing her battle stance, leaning back on her heels before looking up at the dark sentinel watching over the skirmish.<p>

Homura was crouched at the end of a stone outcropping atop the nearest high building, and from this distance the redhead could still see her midnight colored bow humming purple with the bolt strung to its string, at the ready. They had decided to deploy the same tactic as the previous hunt for tonight's run, but the idea proved to be less efficient with only two participants and not three. Proof that no matter how naive they may be, an extra pair of hands was always beneficial. But Kyouko had no intention of forcing the matter with any of them; most people would have identified her as stubborn, but compared to the other two she was the most compliant person on the planet.

Sheathing her weapon, she connected to the mental airwaves. [_I think that was the last of them. Let's scout again and find any stragglers._]

She saw Homura nod and proceeded to leap atop the building, joining her comrade and landing with a heavy _thud_ beside the shield user. The world always looked a little different depending on how high up you were, like watching the sun set at the sea and taking an elevator a hundred stories up to watch it set again. Walking past her, Homura crossed the flat rooftop until she could plant a heel on the edge of the stone railing, gazing down at the cityscape shivering below them, using her vision as a Puella Magi to pick out any remaining traces of demons.

Letting out a stale breath, Kyouko crossed her arms and leaned against the stone walls, letting her friend conduct the surveillance for now. Sure, she may be slacking on the job, but at least Homura didn't have to spent all her combat time in the thick of the battle. Briefly, the redhead wondered if her weapon of choice would have changed if the circumstances of her wish were to alter as well. It wasn't entirely out of the question. Personal weapons tended to represent the Puella Magi's desire, after all. Then Kyouko wondered about Homura's shield and time stopping abilities. Where had they come from? Of course, there was always the explanation the black haired girl offered, but Kyouko could exactly...accept that at the moment.

In a sudden minor epiphany, the spear wielder then realized that she knew very little about Homura as an individual, her likes and dislikes, her past and experiences. The earliest memory she retained of the the raven haired girl was meeting her in a heated standoff induced by the natural bitterness between magical girls, and eventually teaming up with the stoic demon hunter. Then breaking apart before reuniting until the present time. Kyouko had never delved into Akemi's history before she had arrived at Mitakihara, seeing as they had never been intimate enough with each other for either of them to broach such a sensitive topic. Now, though...she pursed her lips. Was it different now?

Blinking, Kyouko shook her head. She was never going to figure out the answer to a question like that. Those were always answered by other people. Glancing upwards, she swept her eyes across the rooftop. Homura was taking an awfully long time to check for demons.

An explanation for the delay was provided when Kyouko alighted her eyes on the other Puella Magi, who was still staring down at the roofs below them, but absently. Observing her pupils told that the shield user wasn't actually paying attention to the task at hand, instead wondering about something else far away that nobody could see. Frowning, Kyouko stood up from the wall and asked softly, "You done over there?"

Homura blinked and straightened, looking around for a moment. Then she turned to face her companion. "Ah...yes. Just a few pockets left. Shouldn't take very long," She replied, but Kyouko heard the distraction there.

Humming, the redhead internally decided it was time to extend their break, and reached into her pocket to produce a box of Pocky. Tearing open the cardboard casing and pulling out one of the chocolate covered sticks, she inserted one into her mouth before asking around the snack, "You looked put off for a second there. You alright?"

"I'm fine," Homura replied firmly, but somehow Kyouko knew that the girl wasn't being entirely truthful. Why was that? Not months before, she would have been convinced by that very same response. Could it be, possibly, that she had grown to understand the girl a little better?

The older girl snapped the Pocky in half thoughtfully. "Well, if you say so." She offered the other half to her friend, but Homura just shook her head quietly.

"It's just..." The shield user began again, making Kyouko's ears twitch. "I spoke with someone today. No one particularly important. But she said some things which I couldn't exactly understand. It just bothered me for a moment, that was all."

The pastor's daughter continued chewing in silence. It was rare for the raven haired girl to admit being disturbed by anything to any degree. "What was wrong with what she said? Did she intentionally offend you?"

Homura shook her head earnestly. "No. She just said some things in a way that made me wonder how she and other people like her could reach such conclusions. It disgusted me, really, though no offense to her."

Strangely enough, Kyouko found herself laughing, her friend looking up in equal surprise. Pulling the Pocky away from her tongue, the older girl smirked and said, "Just cause something's different doesn't mean it's all wrong, you know. Didn't you say about the same thing to a certain someone?"

The redhead expected Homura to react negatively to her allusion to Mami, but the shield user just laughed drily and with irony. "Yes, I did. Maybe that's why it bothers me. For the first time, I don't know who's right."

Kyouko groaned when she stretched the arms above her head, feeling the bones popping there. "Well, whatever. Time will tell. The stronger will always come out on top." She placed her hands on her hips and looked down at the city. "You said there were only a few small spots left. Want to split up and flush them out?"

Homura, a small smile still lingering on her face, looked down as well and said, "Sure. Let's go."

* * *

><p>Pressing a pistol to the twitching demon's head, she pulled the trigger and ended its half life.<p>

Retracting her arm and twisting it around, she checked the smoking barrel of her weapon, retightening her silencer she had attached to it after recent hunts. It was still an odd feeling to be hunting her prey in the human plane of existence, rather than the Labyrinths in which witches usually hid themselves in the past. It meant stealth became that much more imperative, seeing as there were actual potential witnesses around to see their battles. She had Kyubey's assurance that ordinary humans had no ability to see Puella Magi while they were in their magical forms, other than a slight flicker here or there if they were particularly karmic, but Homura was hardly going to place all her faith in that. There was nothing stopping people from hearing an open gunshot.

Opening a storage portal, she stuffed the gun inside her shield and rose from her squatting position in the alley. Homura had found more need to use her firearms to fight as of late, with Mami's recent absences from their sessions, something which had dismayed Kyouko to no end. The redhead rarely showed actual displays of attachment towards other people, but Homura knew that the older girl was capable of genuinely caring for others. Otherwise she wouldn't get pissed so often.

Exhaling heavily, Homura turned and closed her eyes, mentally probing for any remaining demon presence. She swept the entire radius around her and found nothing, and was about to return in satisfaction when something caught her attention.

Twisting, she looked down the length of the alley. The clouds were covering the moon tonight, making visibility scarce, and the darkness thickened and thrashed around her. There it was again, something similar to a demon presence tickling at the edge of her mind, coming from the other end of the alley. Narrowing her eyes, she readied her shield and bow before slowly proceeding forward. The enemy was undoubtedly a demon, but the aura she had detected was different somehow; it felt foreign, altered..._thicker._

The actual distance she had to cover was not great, but due to the girl's slow progress it took her all of five minutes to reach the end of the alley. There stood the obstacle between herself and the answer; a rusted steel door sitting between the intersection of two more alleyways, the corroded bolts holding the barrier in place aged and falling apart before her. The strange presence was lurking just beyond it, and Homura was about to reach forward and tear the door off its weak hinges when an odd sense of hesitation rose up and gripped her.

_Don't do it._ These words flitted through her mind, not a product of external interference but internal instinct. Homura folded her fingers back again and took a step backwards, eyeing the handle apprehensively. She couldn't place her finger on it, but her gut was telling her to turn back immediately. And Homura had learned to trust her gut. Still, she couldn't simply leave without investigating further; whatever lay behind this steel door may be imperative to them. Especially if it was related to demons. But this logical conclusion still shirked back at the waves of animalistic fear which were now pouring from her, and Homura couldn't understand it all, didn't know why her heart was hammering in her ears like the disease had come back.

She bit her lip.

Then gritted her teeth, as she stepped forward again and gripped the handle firmly. None sense. There was nothing here which was capable of warranting such cowardice. Still, as a precaution, she sent a brief mental message, just a brush against Kyouko's consciousness to let the redhead know that she should get over here as quickly as she could.

Bracing herself, Homura raised her shield and bashed the rusted hinges, crushing them through with one blow and making the door sag in its frame with a shuddering crunch. Lifting a hand, she seized the handle and tore the now loosed door back, revealing the space hidden so fearfully behind it.

And what Homura saw would haunt her dreams till death and beyond.

A shuddering black mass was rippling in the center of what seemed to be a room in an abandoned store house, but she lacked the time to affirm this with her eyes glued to the center instead. It was shapeless, not unlike putty but _empty_, like what one would imagine a black hole to look like if it were actually visible to human perception. It was dark and seething, reminding Homura of the massive comet of despair she had seen with Kyubey after Madoka's wish, smoldering altogether with a colorless reality one could only conceptualize.

Her heart rate skyrocketed at the moment she saw it, climbing at a terrifyingly unstoppable rate until it was pounding in her ears like the steady throb of an army drum, striking in time with the weighty steps of a million soldiers. A cold sweat formed along her skin in less than a second, and a sick heat rose in her head, but Homura didn't know why, didn't know why her knees were threatening to buckle in the presence of this strange entity.

Until it began to change.

It stretched and split, before mashing together again like the invisible hands of God were playing with its malleable properties, turning in on itself before gaining a multitude of colors within its form which blended together, arranging themselves into a specific order as the strange black mass changed its shape into that of a smaller, thinner, humanoid figure. A hideous gargling was emanating from it the whole time, filling the room and Homura's ears with the roaring of her heart, an endless scream which was suddenly made finite when the transformation was complete, and the delicate frame of Madoka Kaname was standing before the world.

The end of the scream took Homura's pulse with it, and the constant drumming fled her ears like a departing train, fading away until there was only a silence of terror and incomprehension.

The animal inside took over again, and Homura tried to take a step back, but her weakening knees finally gave way and she fell backwards onto the dusty floor, lips and tongue trying desperately to form words but failing, failing because there simply were no words for her. Except for one, which slipped out of her mouth like a tentative mouse:

"M...Madoka...?"

As if her words were a sort of trigger, the form of the pink haired girl in front of her blinked and looked down at her raven haired counterpart on the ground, her face devoid of all emotion or perception. It was blank. But how Homura had missed that face! No matter the expression displayed on it, how she had yearned to see it again, to reach out with needy fingers to brush them across the smooth skin there before holding tight, so as to never lose it again. So much so that even now, Homura didn't recoil when the once formless black mass began to close the distance between them, walking up to where the shield user had fallen before squatting and looking her in the eye, irises still empty. No, Homura was smiling in fact, and tears were beginning to stain her cheeks, as Madoka Kaname expressionlessly reached up and offered her hand.

Homura reached the take it.

And then there was blood.

Blood. _Blood._ Pouring from Madoka's fingertips, bubbling and boiling despite the night's freeze and spreading everywhere, covering her entire body and consuming it like a shapeless crimson hand of judgement. Homura did not even find it within herself to flinch back, her mind too broken at this point to do much more than watch, watch as the girl who had been squatting before her a moment ago began to bleed from every hole and orifice in her body. Those pale white hands dripped with red, the liquid pattering on the concrete floor as her eyes turned inside out and disappeared, the sockets left behind quickly filling up with more blood as the girl leaned forward and reached out, almost desperately, the mouth hinging open and coughing another gout of crimson all over Homura's front.

Then it spoke, but not in Madoka's voice, but some _thing_ else's voice, something alien in all the wrong ways, like the edge of a rusted blade grating across her heart as the _thing_ crawling in front of her choked out one single word.

_"H...Homu..ra..."_

Her mind broke. It simply did. All the layers she had built around herself until this moment, all the self defenses she had developed to protect herself and her psyche, it was all tossed aside when Homura screamed and kicked out, this attack the only rebellion she could muster. Madoka's body was thrown back, unbelievably light, landing among the ruins in the shadows like a broken toy as Homura curled in on herself and screamed, clutched her head and screamed again, nothing else left but the need to scream until the rest of the world managed to whisper back.

There was no rationale. No will to fight back, either, because Homura couldn't bear the thought of running an arrow through the specter crawling around in the room, simply due to its resemblance to Madoka. Lifting her head and daring to look over at the pile of rubble the shadow and fallen in, her eyes met the bloodied outline of a pink haired head growling and struggling to rise from the mess.

Homura was about to choke on her own breath and scream again when the wall behind her exploded.

* * *

><p>[<em>Will she be healthy enough to return to hunting tomorrow?<em>]

Kyouko felt a profound irritation flash through her at the thought. [_I wouldn't hold my breath, rat. I might have no idea what's happened to her, but that doesn't mean you get to decide when she moves or not._]

[_It isn't even my own choice to make,_] The white alien sitting on the windowsill above her replied curtly. [_The demons outside make that decision._]

[_...Whatever._]

Kyouko was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall and watching the moon stream in from the window above her head, Kyubey occupying the sill there. The alien's position between the moon and the room was casting a long catlike shadow across the bed before them, shrouding its occupant and reminding the redhead that this had all begun thanks to the blasted alien.

But there was no time to complain about that now. The only reason why she didn't spent her days hunting Incubators rather than demons was the fact that Kyubey's race had all the answers. Or at least all the answers to be had. Sometimes, as she gazed across the room at the sleeping figure of a certain raven haired girl, she realized that most likely, nobody knew everything about their situation.

Her encounter earlier that night had more the proved this to her.

It had been almost chaos when Kyouko had crashed through the brick wall of the alley and tumbled into something like an abandoned warehouse, falling in a shower of shattered stone in front of a shaking Homura. That in itself was more than enough to throw the redhead well off balance, but turning around and seeing...well, she hadn't really known what to call it at the time. One moment it was a shifting black mass, another it was a petite girl with pink colored hair, yet another it looked just like any other demon. Her first instinct had been, surprisingly, to run. Partly for Homura's sake and partly due to the unnatural fear the thing instigated within her. Either way, she had wordlessly swept the young Puella Magi up in her arms and taken off into the night.

The demon-thing hadn't pursued them, simply watching from the hole in the wall she had created, tracking their movement with crimson eyes.

The problems didn't end upon their escape. Homura remained completely silent for the first few minutes of their flight as Kyouko carried them both through the city, leaping over rooftops and buildings. Then she had suddenly begun to thrash out of nowhere, making it awfully difficult for the redhead to hold on to the girl, as Homura began to sob something about how sorry she was and where Madoka had gone. It had gotten so bad that Kyouko was forced to shake the girl and scream for her to shut up, a tactic that managed to bear fruit despite how guilty it made her feel.

They had both stumbled into her apartment then, a small room with an unused fireplace and a couple big windows here and there, Homura still softly moaning incoherent things under her breath, eyes darting form side to side. Kyouko hauled her into the bed and tucked her in, then collapsed against the wall herself, taking this position until Kyubey had eventually arrived on the scene. The alien had immediately wanted to know the details of Homura's health first, something which felt both caring and cold all at once.

Kyouko raised her head from between her drawn up knees and looked over at the sleeping girl for the thousandth time. How paradoxical it felt to watch her unconscious, with the cold hardness all gone from her face. She was well aware that many people looked much more relaxed when they were asleep, but the laxness on Homura's face was not one of comfort but weakness, like her mind was broken and not resting.

Shifting and getting on her knees, Kyouko crawled over the floor until she'd reached the bed and tucked her legs underneath her, leaning both elbows on the edge of the mattress. She set her chin on her forearms and absentmindedly watched the girl breath in and out, but it wasn't a steady inhale and exhale and more of an erratic one, making her imagine that the shield user was running from something in her dreams.

[_Kyubey._]

The alien, which had been watching wordlessly from the window, replied, [_Yes?_]

[_Just...what the hell _was_ that thing?_]

A flick of the tail. [_I do have theories. But it is not possible for me to offer a complete explanation at the moment._]

[_I don't care. Tell me your theories._]

Another tail flick, and Kyouko wondered if Kyubey was as nervous as she was. [_A new class of demons. Most likely due to some sort of prolonged evolution, or maybe progressed growth of an already existing class. In either case, it was obviously different from the standard prey you have been hunting. The one ability it exhibited was shape shifting, and based on what you have told me this new class changed to most negatively affect Akemi's mental state. Meaning...]_

[_Meaning?_] She asked, although she could imagine the rest of the hypothesis, suddenly feeling a great weight on her shoulders. Tired, so tired.

[_This new type of enemy, this new class...may be specialized to change its form based on its target's greatest weaknesses,_] Kyubey continued. [_I do not believe this...legend about Madoka Kaname, but she is very real to Akemi. There must have been something which prevented Akemi from attacking something that resembled Kaname. And if you were to seek my opinion..._] The alien turned its head and looked at the sleeping girl.

[_I would say it was thoroughly effective._]

Kyouko cursed under her breath. It was moving too fast, all of it. So many things had changed in the last two weeks alone. Their reunion, the quarrel with Mami, the strange case of Kiku Hanezawa, and now this. Yet still, she found herself to be unjustified in complaining. Because when she looked over at Homura, saw the cold sweat breaking out all over her brow and the tightening eyelids even in sleep, Kyouko knew the raven haired girl had it the worst of all of them. Even if she was unable to understand them, Kyouko knew that there was a plethora of problems neither she or even Kyubey was unaware of. Yet the shield user, with her well earned pride and calm disposition towards everything, tackled each challenge with poise.

Sometimes it was hard to remember that Homura was only fourteen, an age at which most other girls' greatest problems resided in the next math test and whose birthday party to attend. Just another reminder that in the universe of the Puella Magi, time and age meant nothing. Not when Kyouko considered Homura to be her equal, and sometimes her greater. There was only strength of will. Nothing else.

[_Hey, rat,_] Kyouko thought softly, reaching out to tuck the blankets a little tighter around her friend, [_Do you think that hotspot around the hospital is the reason for all of this? I don't know why, but the fact that we're just...leaving those demons to mill around unchecked kind of bothers me. Could that have been the cause?_]

The alien's initial silence was more than a sufficient answer. [_Yes. Of course. In fact, it is the most likely cause. In all the time I have worked with you or Homura or even Tomoe, there hadn't been a case where demons weren't destroyed on sight. The idea of letting the hotspot fester was unprecedented. So it would not be surprising if such an idea yielded unprecedented results._

_I had always been curious to see what would take place if demons were left to live, but the opportunity never presented itself._] Kyubey blinked emotionlessly again. [_Even now, a proper experiment cannot be conducted. But I have seen enough to guess that if demons are left unchecked for long enough, they may eventually progress to a stronger stage of despair. What you and Akemi-san encountered today was likely a product of this._]

Kyouko frowned deeply, absentmindedly reaching out to brush a strand of hair out of Homura's eyes, then blushing once she realized what she was doing and retracting her hand. The discovery of a new enemy should probably have been the highest priority on her mind at the moment, but somehow the sleeping girl in front of her took greater precedence. When they had first met, she and Homura, they had almost immediately been at each other throats. Kyouko had instinctively wanted to correct the apparent error in Homura's ways.

Yet now that they were friends, and she had grown to understand the shield user just a little bit more, that desire for correction had turned into a protective drive. How odd it was, to want to shield the great Akemi Homura from danger, the magical girl who could take on multiple hordes at once without backup and emerge unscathed in every aspect. It seemed very much like the raven haired warrior needed no protection at all, but Kyouko still felt the urge to do so, like Homura was a Soul Gem containing the essence of something important.

The redhead sighed. _You are so awfully frustrating, you know that?_ She thought with a small smile, the moon reaching its greatest height outside and filling the room with its gentle glow. Kyubey had turned away and was staring out the window, lost in its own otherworldly thoughts, and suddenly the world felt very small around her, closing in until it held only herself and Homura, and what resided between them.

There was a soft cough, and the figure in the bed shifted restlessly.

Blinking in surprise, Kyouko leaned back from the bed and watched as Homura regained consciousness, but still keeping herself on guard. The girl had obviously been in a hysterical state when she had rescued her. There was no guarantee the trauma had worn off with rest.

Groaning with an unexplainable stiffness, the black haired girl lifted herself up from the mattress, facing away from Kyouko and towards the wall. A mass of messy hair rose with her, drifting about her face and neck like a veil. The girl stayed like that for a long while, supporting herself with her arms and staring at the wall, and Kyouko imagined her eyes would look blank and confused if she were able to see them.

Finally, Homura turned very slowly to face her friend. Kyouko simply sat back and waited, knowing it wouldn't do to push the younger girl, seeing as it worried her enough to see her moving around already. The lamp sitting on the bedside table steadily illuminated Homura's face inch by inch, until they were both facing each other, one with a concerned but relieved expression and the other with a lost stare.

Then the memories began rushing back in. The cloudiness in Homura's eyes went from thick to nonexistent when the irises filled with a panicked energy instead. Kyouko felt a deep dread inside. So the girl had yet to recover. That wild light was still there, painted on and set by the memory of the girl who had become a god, kept there by the power of fear. Feeling a small pity growing within, the redhead reached out and murmured, "Hey. You're awake-"

The words were slashed when Homura saw the movement and flinched back, retreating to the edge of the bed against the far wall. Kyouko frowned and dropped her hand, trying not to let the hurt show on her face. It was obvious that the shield user was not mentally stable at the moment. She couldn't condemn the girl for anything she did. So instead the older girl remained silent, for fear of provoking another adverse reaction.

Turned out, she didn't have to try. Homura sat leaning against the far wall, muttering incoherent things to herself. Then her neck suddenly stiffened, and she looked up, the wild light intensifying in her eyes. Moving with an astonishing quickness, she scrabbled to her knees and began to crawl off the bed, panting, "Madoka...oh, God, Madoka..." Then her feet hit the cold wooden floor and she began to run, tearing across the room in a desperate pursuit for something that was not there.

Kyouko did not know what drove her to move. Perhaps it was that same desire to protect. But her limbs were moving before she knew it, and a second later she had dove and seized Homura around the waist, using her weight to drag them both down to the floor with a solid _oomph._

The black haired girl immediately began to thrash when she found herself restrained, abruptly beginning to yell, "No! No, Madoka! I have to-"

"Shut up!" Kyouko roared, getting up on her knees and roughly hugging the girl to her chest. She held the smaller girl tight, letting the shock of the sudden move settle down and choke out Homura's cries. The younger girl gasped and her cries dissipated, instead being choked out by a shocked silence as the redhead allowed herself to relax her ironlike grip and sigh, burying her nose into those silky midnight locks.

"Shut up," She repeated again, softly this time. Homura was breathing heavily, the rise and fall of her back pressing against the redhead's chest. Shifting a bit, Kyouko wrapped both arms around the other girl's stomach and pulled her closer. "Don't go out there. Don't chase after her, Homura. It's only going to hurt you."

"But..." The shield user croaked, lifting a hand and reaching out towards the door. Kyubey watched the entire spectacle from the window.

"No," Kyouko said gently, leaning forward and taking that outreaching hand in hers, pulling it back to her waist until she could lace their fingers together and keep them secure. "What you saw, what you think you saw...Homura, it isn't real. Trust me. Just an illusion meant to scare you."

Much to her irritation, Homura just shook her head again. "It was real. I _saw_ it."

Kyouko felt a deep frown cut into her lips. "No, it isn't. Just because you witness something doesn't mean it's genuine." She said so coldly, and she felt Homura go a little limp in her arms. Realizing she was perhaps being to harsh, the redhead returned to a more accommodating tone, despite her true feelings. "The world out there is so full of lies, and danger...it's hard to believe everything you see. So believe me. And stay here. You trust me, right?"

Homura didn't say anything back, instead biting her lip and staring at the ground.

Kyouko was so unused to seeing the younger girl like this that it hurt. Never had Akemi Homura shown weakness to anyone else, never had she lost control or let the fear take over. This was really the first time she had seen the human side of her. And it was terrifying her beyond measure. What would she herself see, if she were to encounter that demon? Who would it change to take the form of? Her father? The rest of her family? Whatever it may be, if it was enough to break Homura, it was entitled to more than its fair share of fear. Suddenly, Kyouko felt a great need to comfort the shield user, if only to assure herself.

Turning, Kyouko brushed her nose against the smaller girl's ear, making her breathe in and out a little harder for a moment. "I know there are some things you can't live without," She whispered, praying that her words were reaching the girl. "And sometimes it becomes really hard to protect them. I know. You have so many things you want to protect..." She felt Homura's hard grip on her elbow lessen. "...but you shouldn't have to take it all on yourself. Let me help you. I don't want you to throw yourself out there like this. You can call me selfish, but...I want to protect you, too. So I can't let you leave. Not like this."

Kyouko waited for a very long time as Homura sat there, limp now and trapped in her full embrace, digesting the meaning of the redhead's words. She half expected the shield user to shake her head and struggle to break free again, but instead she quietly nodded and gently untangled herself from Kyouko's arms, wordlessly padding back to the bed and crawling underneath the sheets.

The redhead didn't speak either, instead pulling up a chair to watch over her friend. She waited for several minutes, not moving a single muscle until she had confirmed that Homura had fallen asleep. Then she rose from her seat and walked purposefully across the room, picking up her crimson Soul Gem on the way. She had made a pledge to Homura to protect her, and she had no intention of failing. Homura had been the one to seek out so many things which had let to their bond; she had been the one to seek their reunion, the first to question Mami's morals for the sake of the entire group, the first to admit that none of them had the perfect philosophy. Now, Kyouko felt, it was her turn to do something for them all. If not that, then at least for Homura, because somehow she hated nothing more than the broken look on her face at that moment.

[_Where are you going?_] Kyubey demanded, leaping down from the windowsill to further his inquiry.

Kyouko felt the cold kiss of the doorknob when she grabbed it and turned.

[_To find that fucking demon.]_

* * *

><p><strong>Just to make things clear, I have no dislikeaversion to Madoka's character. I like her a lot actually, but I decided to use her for more negative purposes in this chapter. Speaking of which, I hope Homura's reaction to the shape shifting demon wasn't too drastic. I don't want to make her seem weak.**

**In response to Cyborg's review, I wasn't really implying anything about the timelines. Also, I wasn't exactly hinting at a decapitated Mami, but I found your interpretation to be very funny for some reason o-o**

**In response to StormFarron185: I wouldn't be so sure ;) The tags have been changed to include the Romance category. Plus I do enjoy Kyou/Homu. But we'll have to see.**

**Do review!**

**~Shrrg**


	5. Sacrifice

Chapter 5: Sacrifice

Kyubey's range of communication with her mind was quite reaching its limits, but the alien continued speaking as if this wasn't a relevant restriction.

[_I wouldn't advise tracking this anomaly down. It is highly probable that it will not end in a favorable result. At least let me accompany you._]

Kyouko's boots struck the sturdy concrete of a roof, her powerful legs bunching and launching her high into the air again. The night whistled past her like she was a train in a tunnel. [_No. Stay with Homura. Watch over her. Fail and you'll have me to answer to._]

The redhead felt the Incubator's disapproval but said nothing to oppose her. [_Very well_.]

She exceeded the range of communication then, and the subconscious voice broke off abruptly, or rather its presence.

Arcing down from a particularly high jump, she landed atop a tall spire that ended in a needle-like projection, as if a lethal injection were being given to the heavens. The Puella Magi gripped the spire in her hand, leaning against it as she scanned her surroundings. She was in the same area as she had been hunting earlier, meaning the neighborhoods around her were completely free of demons; anything evil she detected had to be exactly what she was looking for, since the anomaly was the only enemy yet to be defeated.

As she looked, the spear wielder realized that she was awfully close to the edge of the hotspot Homura had mapped out. So close in fact, that she could see the rooftops that marked its beginning not so far in the distance. She vaguely prayed that her search wouldn't lead her past that boundary, but there was no real conviction to put the wish into practice. If it became necessary to enter the hotspot, she would. Letting the shape shifting demon get away didn't feel like an option to her.

Why was that, she wondered, as the redhead darted down from the spire, mentally sweeping all the while, her spear clacking against the stone occasionally as she moved deftly through the air. Why was she so driven to track down her quarry? Of course, there was the worry of what a new type of enemy would accomplish without their knowledge, but there was something more than that, something _raw_, that was serving as her motivation. Thinking back, Kyouko remembered the moment when Homura had turned to face her in the bed, and she had seen the broken look in those bottomless eyes, those eyes that had become bottomless to eat an endless amount of despair. She had seen this and hated it upon realizing that there were things that could bring down the greatest of them all.

Yes, she did consider Homura to be the most adept Puella Magi within their range of acquaintances. For all her fronts and pridefulness, Kyouko acknowledged this apparent fact. It was not a question of ability, however; there was a time when she would have cut the raven haired girl down without blinking, but that was now long past. Today, if she closed her eyes and thought about striking down her friend, it felt wrong and perverse. Kyouko knew that this probably meant she was going soft in a bad way, since apathy was the last thing a magical girl needed.

Yet strangely, she did not mind.

It felt good to rely on someone, once in a while.

_But now, she's relying on me,_ Kyouko thought. _I can't let her down._ A very large part of her wanted Homura's trust and confidence, if only to free the girl from her burdens.

Her thoughts were broken off when something tickled the edge of her senses. Halting in her jumps, the redhead, peered down from a stone outcropping, attempting to locate the origin of the disturbance. Her eyes alighted on something that made her lips go dry for a moment.

Much like Homura had seen, it was nothing but a shifting black mass. But Kyouko had neglected herself the luxury of harassing the other Puella Magi for details, meaning this was the first time she had observed it properly. The redhead blinked when she realized her pulse was going through the roof; what was it about this entity that inspired her instincts so? And oddly enough, it didn't seem to notice her. If it did, no attention was being paid. Narrowing her crimson eyes and looking beyond the anomaly, Kyouko understood why.

Mami was standing on the ground on the same level as the black mass, otherwise alone in the wide alley below. The blonde was in battle form as well, an unfired musket still hanging at her side, but the girl's grip on the trigger was weak and lax. Her other hand, empty, was raised and reaching forward, towards the anomaly while a sickeningly joyous look continued to spread across her face. Kyouko bared her teeth and gripped the handle of her spear, reading to pounce down and take out the enemy when she heard her senior's voice floating through the air.

"Oh, Kiku...your legs...! They're okay!"

That made the redhead pause for a moment. Legs? Why would Mami be concerned about Hanezawa's legs? They'd never met face to face, but Kyouko was aware of the situation concerning the brunette, and never had her name been associated with issues concerning her legs. Then, shaking her head and frowning, she did her best to banish the thought. It didn't matter what the blonde was talking about. Either way, that demon had to die.

Hefting her spear, she angled the tip towards her adversary, crouching in preparation. The redhead didn't yell or call out to her fellow magical girl, for fear of alerting her prey. Then, allowing a clock to tick down to nothing in her head, Kyouko shot downwards spear-first like a deathly silent eagle.

_Clang._

Shock. There was no word more elaborate or appropriate available to Kyouko at that moment, as her eyes went wide when she found her attack barred by the silver gleaming length of a musket. The eyes of the weapon's owner were wide as well, not from surprise but from terror, the kind of terror an animal feels when her den is threatened by the flames of nature.

There was the briefest pause in movement as Mami absorbed the impact from the blow before shoving back, throwing Kyouko back several feet, where the redhead landed deftly on her feet. Angered by this unexpected development and searching for the quickest possibly way to dissolve it, the redhead bared her teeth again and twirled her spear, yelling, "What the hell are you doing, Mami? Get away from that thing! I have to kill it!"

The blonde's irises trembled, and the shadows crept in a little closer as she shakily lifted her musket. "I...I can't let you do that!" She spluttered, moving jerkily but slowly until, much to Kyouko's disbelief, she was pointing the barrel of the gun straight at the spear user.

"Mami. You don't _understand,_" Kyouko stressed, eyeing the twin holes of the musket warily as she raised her hands to indicate a compliance that wasn't there. "That thing isn't...whatever you think it is. It's a fake! Now step aside before you get hurt!"

"Stop lying to me!" Mami screamed, making Kyouko's heart thunder when the blonde flicked a finger and removed the safety on her weapon. "I know what this is. It's all a ploy set up by...by _her_, isn't it? And you're helping her! You're both trying to mess with my head. Well, I won't let you." Her lip trembled slightly, and her chest heaved with the miasma of hysteria. "I'll protect Kiku from the two of you!"

Kyouko felt the greatest dismay at those words. She had known the blonde for so long, had saved and been saved by her so many times, faced down the trials of life together as a team. But she had always known the fragility of her senior's mental state. She exuded an air of composure and maturity, but the truth was that she was the weakest of them all, when placed under certain conditions. A fact Kyouko had worked her entire life to forget, but tonight it didn't seem avoidable.

Then she saw it. Beyond Mami, splitting and smashing back together in a maelstrom of shifting forms and lies was the demon anomaly. She couldn't place what it was exactly; one moment a black hole, another a beautiful brown haired girl. Then it began to change again, and Kyouko felt the same terror she had seen in Mami's eyes sprout within her when the demon sprouted a priest's robe.

"Mami," She tried again, voice shaking. "You have to step aside. Right now."

"I'm afraid I can't do that," The older girl answered, her voice full of steel. As she watched the demon continue to shift, Kyouko wondered why it wasn't attacking when one of their backs were turned. Then it occurred to her that this new breed may have an intelligence of its own; the ability to calculate and manipulate, as a human would.

Just at that moment, the transformation completed and Kyouko saw her father's face smiling back at her.

All restraint was immediately deemed unnecessary. Without so much as a word, she planted her feet and blasted forward, bowling the other Puella Magi over with the force of her rush before rolling over and stabbing out wildly with her spear, praying to every divine entity she knew of that the tip would pierce demon flesh.

But failure seemed the only possible outcome. Her attack missed when a bullet fired from Mami's musket rocketed past and exploded at their feet, throwing up a massive cloud of rubble. The anomaly shrieked with laughter and broke into a storm of colorless clouds, rushing upwards and away into the night sky. Kyouko saw this and yelled out at last, yelled at the frustration of the hunt and the fact that the damn thing had her father's _face _now, had used it to smile at her like the bad times had never happened and the family was together like it had been. But it was lies, all of it lies, and she had come to terms with this, which was why she able to leap to her feet and spiral into the air in hot pursuit, leaving Mami behind in the crater they had created.

Her attempt at evasion didn't prove to be effective, however, when another bullet whistled out of the smoke below her, impacting off the flat surface of her spear and sending a painful note through the air. Looking down, Kyouko saw the debris clear to reveal a ragged looking Mami jumping up after her, that same haunted look still in her eyes.

Pulling back her lips and growling in agitation, the redhead turned away and focused all her efforts to restoring some distance between herself and Mami while simultaneously struggling to keep up with her prey; the higher demon was fleeing at lightning speed, towards a destination Kyouko was too distracted to distinguish, streaking over the rooftops below like a blank flock of cunning ravens. The chase didn't seem to be coming to a swift end; no matter the extent of her efforts, Kyouko could not catch up with the monster. And meanwhile the blonde Puella Magi behind her drew ever closer, a fact the redhead could determine based on the look of pure hatred she felt searing into her back.

Her dark red boots struck another building spire before propelling her body forward again, this time at a negative angle, aiming for the broad roof of a warehouse sitting beneath them, having decided to continue the pursuit on foot. It would slow her down, certainly, but the idea of being shot out of the air from behind didn't exactly appeal to her. The wild fluttering of the anomaly crackled through Kyouko's ears, and her feet were about to absorb the impact of her landing when she heart a faint shout behind her.

_"...Finale!"_

Kyouko's blood ran cold so quickly it completely skipped the solid stage of matter. Her heart, in brazen contrast, instead began to hammer savagely as the redhead finally landed on the surface of the rooftop but immediately began to jump again despite her earlier plans, having been forced to abandon all forethought in order to escape the massive attack she knew was bearing down upon her, just nanosecond away from impact.

The reinforced steel of the rooftop exploded half a second after Kyouko managed to leave the ground again, the raw force of the blast coupling with her airborne state to send the spear wielder wheeling through the air, mouth open in a soundless scream as debris whistled past her towards the moon, propelled at a much faster rate and glowing white hot from the detonation. Coughing within the monstrous cloud of smoke that had erupted to consume her, Kyouko twisted midair and cut through the veil with her spear, clearing a path through the obscurity. She landed hard on a smaller, tiled roof, only managing to let out a choked grunt when her weight shattered the stone layering, sending little chips of ceramic tumbling down the inclined slope as she lashed out and seized an outcropping to keep herself from falling as well.

Still wheezing from smoke inhalation, the redhead barely registered that her clothes were smoldering as she turned around and looked back in disbelief. A gaping hole had been opened up in the warehouse roof, a black column of smoke was rising steadily from the breach, and Kyouko thought she heard the sound of fire raging inside. So this was the destruction a magical girl was capable of, once her abilities were taken out of the Labyrinth. The power to not curb despair and suffering, but to cause it, a revelation that clutched at her heart like a dying old man.

And there, striding confidently out of the smoke, was the instigator of said revelation. Mami Tomoe emerged from the destruction with the fires behind her flickering in her eyes. Time seemed to freeze at that moment, as Kyouko lay sprawled against the sloped roof staring her companion down, across what was really only a hundred yards but felt like an eternity. Here was Mami Tomoe, the girl who had always stood for justice and righteousness, Mami Tomoe who had been the first to introduce a sense of community between magical girls. Mami Tomoe, the harbinger of true judgement, leaving a charred wreckage behind her without so much of a second thought.

Then Kyouko thought of the anomaly, the demon rushing away from both of them, and realized this was all because of that single monster. Not the original cause, perhaps, but the apparent one, and suddenly she had even more reason to hunt the damn thing down and rend it, tear it to shreds like it held everything that had gone sour between her and everyone else. Because of that demon, Mami had become what Kyouko truly believed she was not.

Meaning she wasn't facing her friend anymore; just something that had consumed her.

Moving with a calmness that sent shivers through the atmosphere, Mami locked eyes across the great distance that separated them and cocked another rifle.

Kyouko spat at her, and returned to the chase.

Again, she didn't look, but Kyouko knew Mami was following. Her own arms and legs moved like they never had before, and in a minute's time she had caught up with the anomaly enough to see it still fleeing in the skyline. Another thirty seconds and she could almost taste the blackness coming off its tails; but then a look away from her prey, and the redhead abruptly realized she was running out of time. The vast swath of buildings ended not twi hundred yards in front of her, petering out into a massive courtyard overlooked by a single, multistoried building at its center. The anomaly seemed to have slowed in speed as well. This was her chance! Whipping forward her weapon and releasing a guttural war cry, Kyouko planted her boots at the edge of a spire and pushed into her biggest jump yet, arcing over the remaining buildings and the oblivious people within them. Gravity took over and she was bearing down rapidly on her prey, which wasn't moving nearly fast enough to escape her fury, she was going to _succeed-_

A sickening crack as the kiss of cold steel plunged into her spine, and suddenly gravity had an ally to help it drag back down to the earth. Without having to look, Kyouko knew that she had made the crucial mistake and not accounting for her own pursuer before attacking. How could she have been so stupid? She wasn't ready to forfeit, not now when victory was so close she was practically inhaling it.

_I'm sorry, Homura._

Then all other thoughts rushed away as Mami's weight on Kyouko's back became too much and both of them hurtled out of the sky, etching a downward spiral into the air as the blonde continued to grapple the redhead from behind and force them both into free fall, the cold stoned courtyard below them rushing up too quickly, too _quickly,_ until Kyouko could only close her eyes a split second before they both crashed into the ground, sending a deep rumble through the sky.

Even when the dust settled and the hideous laughter of the demon had faded away, she didn't attempt to rise. Instead she lay face down, cheek pressed dimly into the shattered stone beneath her, shaded crimson eyes seeing nothing and everything all at once. Mami, on the other hand, spat blood out of her mouth before stumbling to her feet; the blonde hadn't thoroughly planned out her move either and had paid for it. Taking a few precautionary steps away from the spear wielder, the older Puella Magi looked warily at her fallen opponent; was she dead? Part of her hoped not, but another, scarier part of her didn't mind if it was true. Just one less threat to Kiku.

A deep frown creasing into her lips, Mami sighed and turned back, holstering her gun before walking over to Kyouko's prone figure. Squatting, she forced her hands under the redhead's body and turned her over, to which Kyouko did not protest, although a look of extreme agitation flashed across her face. Ignoring this, Mami grabbed two fistfuls of the girl's collar and yanked her up to eye level, the redhead's limp feet barely moving to support her body weight as the blonde stared into her former friend's eyes, smoldering irises narrowed and unforgiving.

Around them, the night was still dark, but Mami knew it was only two more hours till dawn broke. The threat of the night had passed.

Behind her, she heard the fires tearing the warehouse apart.

"You tried to stop me," Mami said at last, her voice low and monotone but carrying the firepower of an army. "Why?"

Kyouko didn't respond with words, instead twisting her neck and snarling, although they both knew this was an empty threat; the spear wielder was too damaged to fight back so immediately.

Mami just smiled back. "Well, I doesn't matter. You failed anyways, and that's what's truly important." The blonde then looked the redhead up and down, taking in her charred clothes and the smog smeared cheeks which were mixed with tears. "We worked together once, I'm sure you remember. We were even friends. But friends don't try to hurt those who are dear to each other. So you may now consider our relationship to be over."

Much to her surprise, Kyouko just laughed at her, the girl still hanging limply in the blonde's grip.

"That's old news, buddy," The crimson girl chuckled hoarsely. "I didn't realize it then, but it was too late for us the minute you left to save that old man."

Mami sharpened her gaze. "It does not matter when the realization came to you; the truth is the truth. By trying to hurt my friends, you've proven yourself to be deceitful."

Kyouko's heart broke when she looked down at saw those warped golden eyes staring back up at her. This was not the girl she had befriended so long ago. She could not say whether the change was permanent or not, but right now the Mami Tomoe in front of her was obsessed and blinded. She knew it would do no good to try and explain the situation, explain the anomaly, explain _everything_. So all she could muster instead was a sad smile, one filled with impossible sympathy that she knew the blonde would not be able to comprehend.

"For someone who exalts praise so much," She replied, "You're a pretty big liar yourself."

Mami smiled back again. "If you refuse to see the truth, I cannot force you. Judgement will take you in its own due course."

"Homura was right. You're fucking insane."

The swift punch that the blonde sent into Kyouko's gut after that remark made stars flash in her eyes, but the pain from the blow paled in comparison to the fact that she was saying such things, and _meaning_ them. Mami Tomoe was insane. Homura was right. And Kyouko was about to break.

"I would prefer it if you don't mention Akemi-san to me every again," Mami suggested tersely, letting her arm fall to her side, thus causing Kyouko to collapse back to the ground again. "That girl is the very epitome of obliviousness."

Kyouko didn't say anything to that, instead letting her neck fall back until she was staring up at the sky. She had failed, failed herself, failed Homura, and now Mami. It grew together into a collective wave, and now she was drowning in it, nothing left to do but listen to the sound of Mami's footsteps steadily clicking away from her.

Then halting.

"Oh my God..."

Feeling an instinctive fear inside her, Kyouko lifted her head to look.

And immediately wished she hadn't.

The map. Homura. A hospital. Hotspot. All these words blasted through her mind all at once as she and Mami watched the literal wave of demons rising up before them. Kyouko looked at the single multistory building looming over them and truly realized the extent of their blunder. The presence of one magical girl near a small demon nest was usually enough to wake them, so two Puella Magi fighting for their lives was more than likely to amplify that effect. She had a strong suspicion that the anomaly's passage through the area was also responsible.

"What...how..." Mami murmured, and Kyouko heard her own fear reflected in those words.

The demons were everywhere, everyone, everything; they were rising from the buildings, from the sewers, from the walls and the shadows, one after another after another after another, emerging so steadily and constantly that it truly felt that there was no end to them. The wall of demons built upon itself until it stretched high into the sky, reaching so ridiculously far that suddenly it was blotting out the entire sky save for the moon, and Kyouko felt like she was at the bottom of a well looking up.

Then that was gone too, because the demons had begun to descend.

* * *

><p><em>Twelve hours earlier<em>

The general hubbub of the students around her buzzed as it always did, but Kiku didn't find herself up to the task of dissecting the individual noises.

In fact, the brunette barely registered the sound of her show locker clicking softly shut before her feet automatically turned and propelled her through the doors of the school. This attitude wasn't entirely unlike her, as Kiku had always been somewhat absentminded, but she was particularly lost in her own thoughts at the moment.

As she slipped between the throngs of people streaming out of the school, she thought about the conversation she had had with Akemi-san a couple hours before. She had been able to understand the general meaning of the raven haired girl's words, but Kiku still had zero understanding towards what had inspire them. How did Mami know her? And why did she get the feeling their relationship was far from positive? Kiku wasn't the nosy type, but she had just enough curiosity buried within her to produce these burning questions.

It faintly occurred to her that she wasn't going to walking home with Mami today; almost an extreme irregularity in itself, as the two of them always accompanied each other home after school. But Kiku knew it was mostly due to her own actions, as she had chosen to follow her underclassman instead of the angry blonde. She just hoped Mami had managed to straighten out whatever it was that had been bothering her.

With that thought completed, Kiku returned once again to her deep mulling, barely feeling the environment around her. She numbly felt the pavement below her feet change into something rougher, blockier, but was too busy thinking to really comprehend what this meant. Only an exterior source of awareness let her know.

"Hanezawa! Watch out!"

Adrenaline! Pulsing through her veins like it had replaced her blood as the brunette snapped her head up in a nanosecond, feeling the air rush in again to replace the space her thoughts had left behind. Another half second and the sound of a roaring engine was bearing down upon her. A snap of the neck to the left and there it was, the truck barreling down the road towards her, and in the painfully brief time Kiku had to observe this she already knew there was no chance of escape. The roar of the engine was upon her now, the tires were screeching but to no avail!

A closed pair of eyes later and the feeling of cold steel slammed into her side like a brick wall, and Kiku felt gravity lose its hold on her.

The last thing she remembered was the sound of Mami screaming.

* * *

><p>[<em>Homura! Homura, wake up!<em>]

Instant awareness. A slight tingle in her spine as the shield user's eyes shot open and she sat up ramrod straight in the bed, her hair following suit and ghosting ominously around her face. She saw Kyubey pacing agitatedly around the other end of the bed.

[_What? What is it?_]

The alien, realizing she was awake, jumped in urgency; its tail was thrashing like a dying fish. [_You have to get moving now! Kyouko and Mami are in grave danger. If you don't move quickly, they might die!_]

In the few moments following her awakening, there had been some small amount of the fear nestling at the edge of Homura's mind; the fear from earlier that night. But all of that disappeared in the wake of Kyubey's words. Kyouko. Danger. _Die._

She didn't ask for an explanation. Just tore her Soul Gem out of the blankets and leaped out of the bed, rushing across the room and out the door, leaving the worn wooden hinges creaking and open. The stairs beyond pounded under her sprinting feet as Kyubey did its best to keep up. Then her arm slammed against a door and forced it open, throwing her out onto the roof of the apartment complex and out under the wide open sky. Homura's body shone with a black light, and two majestic white wings propelled her body forward with all the haste they could muster.

Only then did she further her inquiry.

[_What's the danger?_]

The alien, bounding across the rooftops below due to its lack of wings, replied gravely.

[_They've both found themselves in the center of your hotspot, and woke up every dormant demon there that's been sleeping for months. Now they're all awake. And hungry._]

Homura took a moment to let this sink in. There was no time yet for disbelief. Then:

[_Every last demon...how long do I have?_]

[_Until they fall._]

* * *

><p>Mami was crying.<p>

Kiku heard the sound and immediately recognized it, whether due to the fact that she was well acquainted with it or just instinct, she couldn't accurately place.

The crying continued.

_No...don't cry..._she thought weakly. She couldn't get her ideas and motives together in a straight line; something heavy and thick was pressing down on top of her head, and her arms and legs felt like heavy lead. Still, she tried to will herself to move, and discovered she was yet able to move her fingers, albeit slightly. Kiku pushed herself harder, and a minute later she felt her hand twitch; there were no visuals to help affirm this, because her eyes were apparent glued shut and not currently functioning. The girl gritted her teeth, or at least tried to, forcing all her available strength into her right arm, until she at last managed to move the entire limb to the side, the tips of her fingers lightly brushing over something soft and springy.

Mami's hair.

The sobbing stopped abruptly, and the softness was pulled away from Kiku's fingers as the hair's owner lifted her head. She still couldn't move her eyelids very well, but she heard rapid, panicked breaths coming from above her. Kiku did her best to raise her entire arm and reached for the hair again, but found this to be beyond her abilities, and the brunette could only let her will sink back into the bed.

Then there was a thick heat around her, and Kiku heard the sound of more people shuffling around her prone form, probably looking down at her, although with concerned expressions or relieved ones she could not decide. A muffled exchange of words by her ear; and all the while, Mami continued to breathe. Kiku tried to make our what they were saying but couldn't decipher the specific sounds. Her head was still too muddled for any real thinking. She registered a dull throbbing in her calves. Her side felt stiff. All things which should have concerned her to some degree, but worry was beyond her capacity at the moment, leaving the girl nothing more to do than slip back into her slumber.

It could have been hours that passed then, perhaps minutes or days. But the next time she opened her eyes the sun was setting and it was bleeding through the windows. She wasn't completely laying down anymore, instead her back was propped up against a couple pillows, a position she immediately learned to favor due to the dull ache rippling through her hip. She awoke staring at the spot across the room where the wall met the ceiling, and was vaguely reminded of a time when two things had also collided, but couldn't exactly recall what it was.

Sound was beginning to rush in at last, but slowly and gently. There was the soft clicking of shoes outside. A general air of murmur after that. The soft creaking of a chair to her side; the rough brush of something cloth-like on her forehead. For the first time in a while, Kiku willed herself to blink and her body obeyed. She then tried to move her arms and found herself to be only partially successful; her right limb felt much more functional before, but the left felt dead, like a frozen lump of wood. A spark of concern finally managed to light itself inside of her.

Then Kiku heard the sound of an eight-wheeler rumbling by outside and remembered.

"Aw, crap..." She spoke, her voice hoarser than a freshly born chick. "Should have looked both ways."

There was a small crash and then a tumble at her emission of her words, but Kiku couldn't turn to see what its source was. But the source itself proved to have enough initiative to pick herself off the floor and rush over to her.

"Kiku!" Mami almost screamed, and the brunette in question saw tears in her friend's eyes. "Oh my God, you're awake!"

She smiled. "Guess you're stuck with me for a little while longer."

That was when the blonde really started sobbing. Mami threw herself on top of her best friend's body in an attempt to express her belief, but was forced to back off when the brunette grunted as her injuries were agitated. The third year stood up straight and took a few steps back instead, taking in the sight of her broken friend laying there on the hospital bed, and Kiku could only stare back in silence.

The injured girl knew that she must be taking this entire situation awfully well. After all, most people would probably have lost their minds after waking up covered in wrappings brought on by a collision with a truck. Kiku shut her eyes and envisioned the last of her memories. The screeching, the crash...it was all so vivid there, but it didn't bring fear, and she realized it was because Mami had been there to greet the waking day.

"Alright," Kiku whispered, balling her one working hand into a tight fist. "I'm fine now. So tell me. What's hurt? What's broken?"

"Kiku..." Mami murmured, her voice still thick with tears which weren't appropriate to shed. The blonde hesitated again, but her friend's stern stare dissuaded her. Setting her jaw, she began, "Kiku, your legs..." Then she stopped once again. "...actually, I'll get the doctor. He should be the one to give the rundown."

She turned and headed for the door then, but stopped before pulling it open. Turning back, she looked Kiku in the eye and confessed, "I'd rather not explain the details of my crime."

The door scraped open and shut itself.

_What the hell is that supposed to mean?_

* * *

><p>"I'm not going to lie to you, Hanezawa-san," The doctor said grimly, rubbing his thumb absently across his clipboard; the movement was irritating her greatly. "Your injuries are many and very serious. But don't despair! I can assure you a full recovery. It will be a long road, of course, but not impossible in the slightest."<p>

Kiku's body relaxed somewhat. That was good to hear. She had faith in modern science, but there had been a small part of her which feared being told she was now a cripple, or something even more severe than that.

The doctor began pacing around the bed; Mami was watching uneasily from the farther side. "Tomoe-san here has told me you wish to know the full extent of your injuries, and the psychology department has cleared you for interaction, so I don't see the harm. The truck struck you from the left side; you broke the radius bone in your arm, as well as three ribs just below that. Luckily enough, your arm and side prevented your hips and lower spinal cord from sustaining considerable damage. The tissue there just took a good bruising."

The brunette saw the sun continue to set outside and looked down at herself. "And my legs?"

The doctor nodded. "Your left kneecap was broken in several spots and will have to be replaced. The fibula was also broken clean through. The other bones took only slight fractures. As for the bandages on your head, they will be coming off soon enough; the impact left a rather nasty gash in your scalp. The hair will grow back normally, of course."

Kiku kept looking down at herself, or rather the blanket covering her person. It was too much to take in. Suddenly her inability to move her legs and arm, and even her waist, felt very real and terrifying. Even though she had the assurance of a full recovery, the physical restrictions still made her heart begin to beat faster. The heart monitor sitting beside her bed picked this up and displayed the information for all to see, and when Mami read the screen she threw a look of pure hatred at the doctor.

"How..." The brunette said at last, making the doctor turn to face her again. "How long till I'm normal again?"

The man seemed to roll this over in his head for a while. "Well...considering time for therapy and follow up appointments, I would put a rough optimistic estimate at seven months. It's a miracle, really. Twenty years ago it would have been twice as long."

He was gone after that, and Mami retook her seat beside the bed, but the two of them couldn't find it within themselves to talk. Meanwhile, enough time passed for the sun to disappear from the sky. The city outside was plunged into momentary darkness before the lights began to flicker on. Kiku looked down from the high window at the shadows lurking below, and felt oddly like they were looking back up at her.

"Which hospital is this?" She asked at last, making Mami start and raise her head up.

"Um...Mitakihara General. West district," The blonde murmured.

Kiku frowned. "That's a long way from school..."

"They took you to a closer hospital for emergency purposes, but after you were under stable condition they moved your hear for better treatment," Mami explained. "The doctors stressed that the first twenty four hours are very important."

"How many days has it been?"

"Days? It was all today."

All today...how incredible that was. She felt decades older. "It felt like so much longer." Kiku said this as she turned her head away from the dark windows and attempted to look her friend in the eye.

The blonde evaded eye contact and stared down at her lap instead. "Yeah. They put you under using something different, they said. Slowed your entire body down so they could set everything back correctly before you woke up. Took a while; I've been here all day."

"And my parents?"

"They..." Mami hesitated. "They're on a business trip right now, as I'm sure you know. They promised to book a flight within the next three days."

Why had she even bothered to ask?

Kiku righted her head again and sighed heavily, staring up at the ceiling. It was late in the night but she didn't feel tired; probably the effects of the drugs the nurses were pumping into her, whatever they may truly be. In fact, she felt rather alive, like something was buzzing inside of her chest and making her want to get out of bed and run down the hall. But it was all a false hope, because they'd put braces on her legs, and the rest of her body was generally restricted in a similar manner. Gritting her teeth, she looked at her friend again and found the blonde still staring down.

"Mami."

"Huh?"

"Why won't you look at me?"

Her friend flinched at those words, making Kiku frown. Mami squeezed her hands together and bit her lip. "It's...it's not like I'm avoiding you or anything..."

"Yes, you are," Kiku said, without remorse no less. "You've been trying not to make eye contact ever since I woke up. What's going on?"

The blonde frowned severely and turned her head away even further, something which irritated Kiku considerably. "I'd rather not tell you."

"Mami!"

"What?" She asked savagely, rising suddenly from her seat. "What? Are you going to force it out of me? When you're tied to the bed like you are?"

Kiku felt a strange stab at her heart. "How...how can you say that? I'm only worried about you. And yes, even when I'm tied to the bed like I am. What of it? Do I need your permission to be concerned?"

Mami blinked and clenched her fists.

"No."

"Then tell me."

"It's my fault."

"What?"

"It's my fault!" The blonde yelled, snapping her neck up and looking her friend straight in the eye at last, and Kiku was shocked to find tears brimming there. "If I hadn't been angry today at school...if I'd met you like we normally do and walked you home, this wouldn't have happened! It's all my fault because I couldn't control my emotions. Because I let...let _her_ get to me like she did. It's all because of me!"

_Her? _Kiku thought. _Who's she talking about? _"That may be so," The brunette shot back, sounding surprisingly assertive when she was one confined to bed. "But it's not like I'm crippled or anything. The doctor said I'll be fine, given time. And really, nobody's actually going to blame you for what happened to me. I don't, at least. It's okay, Mami. No one's holding you responsible!"

"You're wrong," Mami replied. Kiku saw the girl's hands shaking. "I am being blamed by someone, and that person is me. It doesn't matter what anyone says, because in the end I failed, I had a duty to protect you..."

Kiku sighed. "Protect me? From what?"

Mami looked away again. "From her. From them. From everything. I don't know...but it doesn't matter anyways. I'm not even supposed to be here, apparently, yet I am...but against who's jurisdiction? _Hers,_ of course, it's always her, pulling the strings from the shadows like she knows how this is all going to turn out..."

"Mami," Kiku broke in levelly, although some of her fear crept into her voice. "Who are you talking about?"

The blonde had turned away from the bed by now, and Kiku saw her stiffen when she was interrupted. Nothing was said or done for a long while, until finally Mami straightened up a turned around, looking the brunette in the eye. All traces of her previous grief and regret were gone, so quickly and utterly that it struck even more dread in Kiku's soul.

"No one," The blonde responded calmly. "Don't worry about it. Get some sleep. I'll be going now."

In a couple of hours, Kyouko probably would have assumed that it was meeting the anomaly which pushed Mami Tomoe over the edge of her sanity. But she would have been wrong. The girl's mind had lost its battles long before that, the moment the truck had collided with Kiku's body, and she had found it reasonable to blame the accident on Akemi Homura, as well as herself.

Or perhaps, she had been insane since making her wish.

Either way, she intended to amend things. To make them operate as she saw fit.

Outside, the shadows rustled uneasily.

* * *

><p><strong>This chapter was originally something like 15,000 words long. I know alot of people like long chapters but that felt like a bit much to me. So I split it into two.<strong>

**I hope you like Kiku. I haven't really developed her though. So for those who dislike her, she won't be around for much longer. For those who don't, she'll be making a good exit.**

**Do review!**

**~Shrrg**


	6. Give Me Reason

**So…yeah, I'm not dead. Enjoy.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 6: Give Me Reason<p>

As Kyouko watched the black wave closing in above them, she wondered why she wasn't moving.

It was like every instinct driving her survival up to this point had decided to sink into the soil. Her lifeblood was seeping out through her pores and into the roots of the plants and bugs below. Her spear was lying fifteen yards away, glinting weakly into the steadily disappearing moonlight, and in the corner of her eye she could detect the glow of her Soul Gem flickering rapidly.

Mitakihara General. West District. Demon population size: exceeding eleven thousand, further census required. Current status: dormant. Clearable by single unit: negative. Recommended support: three units or more. Lone survival rate: five point two percent. The statistics were there, the numbers were there, and the black wave above her was there. But the drive was not there. Letting her neck give, the redhead's head fell to the side and she saw her dull looking spear again, no longer glittering in the slightest, as the incoming cloud of enemies above them had literally blotted out the moon.

Mami, however, reacting very differently. Heaving in a gasp that ended up as something between a scream and a sob, the blonde drew two rifles and fired desperately at the heavens, cocking and reloading in a split second to fire again and again. Dust and wind began to pick up around the two of them as the older Puella Magi began to move at inhumane speeds, rifles and bullets and chambers reloading too quickly for the eye to see. A swath of small explosions bathed the sky, accompanied by the screaming of demons as they perished in the flames. But it was too little, too late, to desperate, because regardless of her actions the tidal wave of despair was growing steadily closer. They were coming in from the sides too now, more slowly but still coming, and Kyouko dully registered that Mami was going to die.

And her as well.

Why was she so tired? All the resolve she had dredged up until now had fled. She had no desire to meet the demons screaming down at her at this very moment, pulling together a belt of storm clouds behind them. The massive amount of karmic misfortune concentrated in one area was darkening everything. Lights were beginning to flicker out as the storm gathered and strengthened. Some people were shouting in the distance, and they sounded panicked and confused. Suddenly wanting to shut them all out, Kyouko closed her eyes, welcoming the alternate darkness this offered. She would sleep.

_"Stay...with me."_

Black light flooded into Kyouko's irises when her eyes peeled open again. That voice...a faded memory from not so long ago. Where had it come from? At that moment, she remembered something Homura had murmured in her sleep, just seconds before the redhead had left through the door.

_"Stay...with me..."_

Of course. How could she ever have considered giving up? She was doing all this for herself, but for her friend as well; the girl who had chosen to be her true comrade, who was the strongest of them all yet still needed a shoulder to fall back on. Kyouko wished dearly to be that shoulder. Letting the demons swoop down and devour her soul was not going to facilitate this goal.

Her fists clenched against the gravel.

Then, yelling and mustering all the strength her body could produce, the spear wielder spun to her feet, snatching up her weapon and staggering to maintain balance. A crimson aura was seeping through her veins, rising up from her person; her armor was still smoldering, but it only added to the heat which had roared to life in her heart, the heat which spread its jaws and bellowed as her eyes alit with a powerful light. Such was the energy which drove her to rear back and smash the butt of her spear into the solid stone beneath her feet, forcing a crimson wall to originate there and expand, growing and burning and trapping until a protective bubble had formed around herself and Mami.

The incoming wave of demons all collectively crashed against the shield, and Kyouko yelled when she felt the accumulated force of ten thousand demons pounding against her defenses. But her walls were stronger, sturdier than the despairs of ten thousand, as long as she kept her desire in mind, the wish she had chosen to protect.

Flinching as she suddenly found a barrier between herself and her enemies, Mami went rigid and turned slowly, taking in the sight of the redhead, shaking and sweating but standing, standing and ready to fight.

"Kyouko..." She murmured. "But why?"

The redhead just cracked a strained, toothy grin.

"It isn't for you. It's for her."

And thus, the battle commenced.

* * *

><p><em>[Are you feeling properly functional?]<em>

Kiku shut her eyes and turned her head to the side, feeling the rough fabric of the pillow scratch softly at her cheek. It was truly night now, and the halls outside had largely emptied of occupants, as most of the hospital staff had left and the considerably smaller night crew replaced them. The sun was gone and so was her strength. She wanted to sleep.

_[Was your throat damaged as well?]_

Gritting her teeth, the brunette bit her lip and tried her best not to respond mentally to the question. She had no intention of conversing with her shadow today. Her heart wasn't very open to communication at the moment. Kiku had attempted to push back the impending waves of fear and worry upon awaking to her horrible physical condition, for Mami's benefit if not her own. She knew the girl had a tendency to take things too far. But despite her efforts, that dark look that had crossed the blonde's face before she had left...it had allowed the fear to come back.

Her shadow didn't say anything for a moment, for which she was glad. It was strange. Kage had never bothered her so insistently until now. In the past the secondary consciousness had only slipped by her mind occasionally, like a distant relative she would only have to stand for a limited amount of time. Well, it wasn't that she wholly disliked conversing with the odd personality. It was simply Kage's nature and the mystery surrounding it that always put her on her guard. But now that something interesting had finally happened, Kiku was finding it beyond her ability to deduce. Her shadow had never sound so...urgent before.

_[I don't believe the doctor mentioned any damage to-]_

_[Shut up!]_ Kiku snarled back at last, and she felt her shadow's presence shirk back.

_I had a duty to protect you._

From what? From _what?_ Mami had acted like had failed to facilitate the success of some grand conquest, like the fate of something important, something beyond comprehension, had all hinged on her. Protect Kiku from her. Her. Who was that? It was a half name that had been spit out of her friend's mouth so bitterly that it had borne an intense curiosity within the brunette. Was she a great enemy? A friend turned foe? Or perhaps an imaginary figment, come to drive them all mad? The truth, and the thing that frustrated her the most, was that there was no way for her to know. The only evidence she had to rely on was that this mysterious adversary was more than capable of pissing Mami off.

But that wasn't her primary concern. No, her greatest worry was the pure ambition with which her friend had stalked out through the door. The air surrounding her hadn't been one of a person intending to contemplate, or even plot. It was the aura of a hunter going for the kill. But what was the prey, and what had initiated the hunt itself? It made her chest constrict to have to admit that she didn't know. She and Mami had been friends for so long, yet there had always been an atmosphere of mystery surrounding the blonde, acting as a barrier between them and preventing any true intimacy and either of their parts. Never had Kiku been able to explain the numerous times Mami had disappeared from class, coming back the next morning looking ever so slightly disheveled. Never had she been able the deduce why the blonde was rarely free to spend leisure time after school, why she grew overly worried when Kiku announced she would be out late into the night. In terms of awareness, Mami had always been the more knowledgable one. And until now, Kiku had decided this was best for the prosperity of their relationship. After all, she never gave in. She hated goodbyes.

She had never said goodbye.

Yet, the unsettled look, the - she had to admit it - insane look engulfing her friend's face had struck her core. Most others not as close to the blonde saw her as the very epitome of composure, the object of sophistication and the prime example of maturity and tolerance. However, after growing closer with the girl and managing to see through the occasional chink in the armor, Kiku had always known Mami Tomoe was much weaker than she appeared to be. She had never been able to describe the feeling completely, or even provide sufficient evidence to support it; the hypothesis had simply come, and upon its inception had refused to leave.

There was a lingering uneasiness beneath that calm smile, something that slithered around and brewed until the right moment. Kiku had been rather horrified to use such negative adjectives to describe her best friend, and had always did her best to quash the idea, but she still failed to not notice it from time to time, until suddenly the blonde's sturdy strength had become little more than a facade to her. And, naturally, this had bred a desire of the brunette's part to protect her. Yet how was Kiku supposed to do that when she wasn't entirely aware of the situation? There were still questions that she couldn't ask after all these years, inquiries which would darken Mami's expression and make the room feel a little colder.

_It's all because of me!_ The blonde's words echoed through her ears again. There was a difference between accepting responsibility and forcing it upon oneself. Kiku knew that well enough; she had blamed herself for the lack of unity in her own family for the longest time, before finally realizing she was not responsible. She had only vindicated herself to feel superior, as if acknowledging the problem and pretending to tackle it would somehow breed a solution. But there was no detour to self improvement. There was no way to cheat one's own true nature. Kiku had the greatest fear that Mami had fallen into that very trap.

The girl wasn't who she wanted to be. So she was trying to become that.

But she was trying to cheat her way to it.

_[You're worried about her, aren't you?]_ Her shadow murmured a bit more sheepishly.

Kiku let her shoulders sag into the pillows.

_[Obviously.]_

_[You fear that she will hurt herself for your sake.]_

_[It's just fear. Unfounded feelings.]_

She felt something shift through her thoughts and remembered her shadow's previous urgency._ [I wouldn't be so sure. There may be more justification to your instincts than you think. At this very moment, actually.]_

A deep frown. _[What do you mean?]_

The voice in her thoughts hesitated, another first. It was making her uneasy. _[That is a rather dangerous question. You may want to confirm that you are prepared for its answer before I say.]_

_[What could you possibly say that would turn my world upside down?]_ Kiku murmured back sarcastically.

Another pause. _[...Knowledge is both a blessing and a curse. Awareness allows for context as well as additional worry. It is yet another thing I've learned from my time among you humans. But I can say this; what I see right now, at this very moment, justifies every fear you feel for Mami Tomoe.]_

Kiku let those words reverberate through her head, making sure to digest each one properly. It hurt her brain to do it, but she forced herself to. Her shadow never joked around; for everything she didn't understand about it, she could at least say the second consciousness was earnest.

Outside, the city continued to pulse. This area of the district was generally empty of people during the night, leaving nothing but the throbbing lights outside to look at, but even those seemed still and weak this time. The courtyard sitting just outside the hospital was cold and empty. She couldn't explain it. But there was a strange oppression around everything she saw through the window.

_[Tell me something,]_ She thought, feeling her shadow's attention turn towards her inner voice.

_[If you tell me, will I be able to make myself unjustified?]_

There was such a long terrifying pause afterwards that the darkness had time to close it further.

Then a solemn reply: _[Yes. By all means, it would be entirely within your abilities. The words and contract must only be made.]_

Kiku thought hard about that. Almost ridiculously so. After all, she was placing real gambles on the obscure words of a person who wasn't tangible to her. Was it really wise to potentially sacrifice her peace for that?

Then she remembered the look on Mami's face.

_[Show me.]_

The thoughts that came back to her were both triumphant and cunning.

_[Very well.]_

Something brushed against her mind then, and suddenly the courtyard wasn't so empty anymore.

What she saw instead sent terror screaming through her chest.

* * *

><p>Every muscle on fire, every thundering heartbeat jetting liquid lead through her veins as Kyouko twirled deftly through the air and jabbed her spear forward, impaling yet another demon and sending it whirling into nothingness.<p>

The rest of its brethren storming around her in a complete and utter circle, held back only by the strength of her will and the crimson shield which represented it. The barrier did not block out sound, however, and the sound was terrifying indeed, loud and endless like an eternal flock of birds fleeing into the sky which was now blotted out. There was a slow, steady rumbling reverberating through the air, as if the earth itself were moaning in agony, and her heartbeat was flying so fast that it just felt like one continuous throb. Everything was seized, drawn out, pasted down by the cloud of demons around them.

Behind her, she heard Mami scream something incoherent, and four gunshots crashed outwards. Kyouko twisted to spear another demon and saw the heavily perspiring blonde cocking and firing her guns with wild abandon, a tactic which for once was bearing fruit; so thick was the tide of their enemies that the direction did not matter. Anywhere she shot, the bullets met a target.

Feeling the tip of her spear beginning to get dragged along by the tide of blackness, Kyouko leapt backwards towards the epicenter of her barrier, needing to regain her breath. As a result, her back pressed up against Mami's. It jolted the redhead's nerves a bit to register that the sensation did not make her feel stronger, like it had when she had been in the very same situation with Homura. There was no coexistence between herself and the blonde. Mami was still just firing blindly, completely failing to notice her companion's brief respite, too focused on her own survival.

Readjusting her grip on the shaft, the redhead grunted and dove back into the fray. One, two, three. Another group down. Four, five, six. Tick tock, tick. It was all spinning, as she twirled around herself like a ballerina dancing to the music of death, the swirling cloud above her the doomsday clock to hell. Demons fell apart beneath her onslaught, but there were always two more to replace every foe she vanquished, and Kyouko truly understood the hopelessness of their situation when her back pressed against Mami's again, except this time it was because they were out of room.

Everything was mixing back together. There was a deep cut in her calf that was making it difficult to put her weight back, keeping her on her toes even when it was unnecessary. She had never really known that demons were capable of dealing actual physical damage. Now that she had been effectively pinned down by them several times, however, she was all too well acquainted with the pain their claws could bring. The ribbon in her hair had torn and blown away, loosing her usual messy ponytail to billow behind her, stray strands of crimson hair whipping wildly by her vision.

The advancing wave of demons had compressed her shield to its smallest point, so tight that the two of them barely had enough space to maneuver and fight without tripping over themselves. Kyouko didn't dare take another respite to check on the blonde fighting for her own life behind her, but she could hear Mami gasping for breath as bullets continued to crackle from her muzzles, one two, one two, another drum beat to join the ticking of the clock, except it moved not forward but erratically. The older girl was breathing heavily, certainly, but there were thicker cries thrown between the inhales and exhales, a wetter sound that Kyouko abruptly realized were choked sobs.

_"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."_

_What are you apologizing for?_ Kyouko thought, feeling almost too exasperated given their predicament. _Nobody's blaming you. Well, maybe I am._

The dirt beneath her boots was scarred and cut into now. Her shoulders were burning. How long had they been holding their ground? Five minutes? An hour? How long until it was over?

Was it ever going to end at all?

Her desperate thought was promptly answered when she lunged with her spear, hoping to impale two enemies through at once, but instead found the flat side of her weapon struck from the right but a weighty claw. A split second later and her spear was wrenched out of her hands so forcefully that it pulled the redhead's entire body with it, sending her sprawling to the hard ground, everything from the waist up falling out of the barrier's protection.

They were on her in an instant. Like she was a horse that had collapsed on top of a storm of maggots. She thought she screamed, but the possible sound was lost somewhere in the ether as the demons clawed and screeched at her, suffocating everything else out. Razor claws were opening up long gashes all over her body. Kyouko only managed to throw her bare arms up before her face before preparing to take the inevitable killing wave. It was over. She had failed.

Another split second there, as her eyes saw something through a crack in her fingers. It was the face of a demon. It would occur to her later that it was the first time she had properly observed one. Their faces were usually hidden and obscured by layers of shadow and smoke. But here it was, the naked grinning face of the thing she hated so much. It looked like an insect's skull, but it was humanoid too, all mandibles and black gnashing teeth with piercing eyes filled with such an intense hunger they devoured her in that single instant.

If she died here, Homura would have to face this.

Alone.

Hadn't she promised herself to always stay by her side?

There was a deep rumbling roar as something large and powerful rose up inside her, and her Soul Gem suddenly flashed with an all consuming light, blasting outwards from its place in the hollow of her throat as Kyouko twisted and clenched her fist, concentrating the energy before sending it crashing into the vultures clawing at her flesh.

There was a ear thundering explosion as the pure energy from Kyouko's Soul Gem impacted with its target, sending everything either disintegrating or streaking away as the earth cracked and splinted like a piece of wood beneath her feet. Mami shrieked in panic when the last of the crimson barrier flickered and faded away, but the redhead was beyond caring about the blonde at this point, instead swiping up her dropped spear, which had begun to smolder deep red with excess destructive power, before rearing back and sending it torpedoing into the sky, aiming straight for the cloud of demons which had risen up and away from her intense sphere of energy. And as her weapon buzzed up to meet its targets, Kyouko thought she saw something hot and blazing falling from the heavens to meet it.

Then the spear hit something of demonic nature and a second eruption blasted horizontally across the air, sending a chorus of screams everywhere and blowing crimson dust everywhere like blood had mixed into snow. And descending down through the bloody blizzard was Akemi Homura, portable light machine gun blazing like the sun, cleaning up any outlying enemies. The girl's midnight hair was flying in the wind, and her silhouette against the moon was terrifying indeed, but all Kyouko saw was the complete look of relief and joy in those violet eyes.

Kyouko stood there, bleeding profusely from numerous wounds, smiling up at her one true friend.

Against all expectations, the stone broke across Homura's face, and she smiled warmly back.

_It's going to be all right now,_ her smile seemed to say.

As soon as the shield user's toes touched the ground, the hospital exploded.

* * *

><p>Somebody had a television on in the hall outside. It sounded like the news. Whether somebody was actually watching it or not, Kiku fervently wished it would turn off. It matched too conveniently with the lie she knew she was seeing.<p>

_"Strange explosions have been heard near the courtyard in front of Mitakihara General..."_

There! Another streaking projectile, moving fast as a bullet, flying out from the red sphere until lit struck...she didn't know what it was. Something to revile. Something to fear. Either way, it was screaming now. Just like she was. Her lips simply wouldn't let the sound through.

_"The nature of the detonations is unknown, but authorities suspect ammunition and mechanical weapons..."_

And now there is was, the one thing she could recognize among the maelstrom of blackness and confusion and bad feelings. The almost platinum blonde pigtails she knew so well, the golden irises she had gazed into so many times. The one thing she could recognize, and Kiku wished with all her heart that it was all unknown to her instead.

She couldn't even remotely comprehend why her best friend was fighting back tears as she fired rifles into a legion of monsters.

The next logical step, then, was to consult a higher authority on the matter.

_[What...what the hell is this?]_

_[Hanezawa,]_ Her shadow responded slowly, _[I can feel your emotions slipping. You must maintain control of yourself.]_

_[Don't give me that shit!]_ Kiku thought back wildly, impulsively struggling to stand up and get out of the bed, driven by some deeply rooted survival instinct, but instead crying out in pain when the extent of her injuries prevented her from even lifting her neck too far. _[What is that? What the fuck is that? This isn't real. You aren't real either. I'm insane, I knew I was, now get out of my damn head you-]_

_[I understand that the human capacity for perception is rather limited,]_ Her shadow cut her off coldly, _[But I can fully assure you that none of this is an illusion.]_

"Then explain what's going on down there!" She shouted out loud, too panicked at this point to maintain enough control over her mental faculties to keep her expressions internal. Her irises were dilating, her heart was hammering, she was breaking out in cold sweat. All because this thing, her shadow, and revealed to her something that should not have existed...

There was such a long pause that she could feel her heart getting sicker.

_[Let us begin with the basics,]_ Her shadow said at last, tersely. _[That blonde haired girl you see fighting below us is your companion, Mami Tomoe. The one fighting beside her is irrelevant at the moment. Just to prevent any future misunderstandings, that is who you think it is.]_

"Oh my God..." Kiku whispered, understanding so little of what she was seeing through the window and hating it so much, yet still feeling awfully compelled to keep watching. "She's firing guns...at...who is that? Who is she fighting?"

_[The dark entities your eyes detect are demons. Mami Tomoe is a magical girl. Her duty is to destroy them.]_

Demons. Magical girl. No, no, no. This was all wrong. She was being lied to still. Nothing her brain was seeing fit with what she knew. Kiku could feel herself losing control but failed to do anything about it, her thoughts beginning to flee every which way. Did this mean Hell truly existed? If demons walked the earth, did they have a home somewhere else? What did that make Mami? An angel? A fallen star?

Control. You need control. Control. Stick with what you can understand. "Is she...going to be all right?" Kiku managed to ask weakly.

Another soul tearing pause.

_[I doubt it.]_

Her thoughts were distracted when another bright flash on the impossible battlefield raging below them drew her attention, this time up in the air, high above the hospital building. A flickering glow, like a weak lantern in the distance. Kiku numbly realized that it was the blazing muzzle of a machine gun. The girl who was flying through the air on angelic wings and firing the weapon seemed awfully familiar, but her mind was too frazzled to discern why exactly.

The panic began to set in again.

_[But there is something you can do about it.]_

Those words, however, were computed rather clearly. Perhaps it was a result of human nature, perhaps it was simply her own disposition, but the realization struck a chord in her. She could end all this. All which could not be but was. It must have been some sort of self defense mechanism, what Freud would have called self suppression, except that she would be defending herself not by forgetting but destroying.

Stick with what you can understand.

"Tell me."

_[Your friend is in grave danger. Do you desire to protect her?]_

Mami was in danger. Mami was going to die. Even more reason to take what opportunities she had.

"Yes..."

_[To which lengths would you go for her safety?]_

"Any means necessary."

Perhaps it was due to the promptness of her response, but the presence in her mind started a bit at that.

_[...very well. In that case, Kiku Hanezawa, what is your greatest wish?]_

Stick with what you can understand. "I wish I could protect her. From everything. From anything...

...no matter what it takes."

She heard the voice in her head chuckle in satisfaction.

_[Your wish has surpassed entropy.]_

There was something oddly peaceful in the way he said it, Kiku decided, as something in her chest started to glow. Like a bittersweet ending to a story. Instinctively, she knew nothing was going to be the same after this, as the glowing light expanded to consume her entire body.

_[Now, release that power!]_

As her vision began to white out, Kiku thought she saw a cat sitting on the windowsill.

* * *

><p>The moment she cleared the first crest of buildings, Homura saw the storm awaiting her.<p>

It was both incredible and deathly to behold. Never, in all her years of fighting witches and demons, had she witnessed such a massive congregation of despair in one location. She was still miles away from the battle zone, but the swirling mass could be clearly seen from this distance. The only thing she couldn't see was a red dot which would have been Kyouko, something that struck great fear in her heart, because it meant the redhead was on foot.

Wasting no time, the shield user leapt from building to building, covering ground quickly. Kyubey had mysteriously disappeared from her side, having given no clear reason for its departure, and in her haste she had made the rare mistake of overlooking its absence. She briefly wondered where the alien may have gone but immediately banished the thought. She had to focus on the task at hand.

Jumping and scrambling hastily over a church spire, the raven haired girl looked up urgently and was irritated to see a small swath of demons gathering to block her path. It seemed that the intense activity was drawing demons from all over the city, from districts beyond the areas they had cleared that night.

Drawing her bow, Homura reached back and pulled out two arrows, firing as she still ran. Enemies dissipated from her path as she began to let the bolts loose. Nothing was going to stop her from her goal. Stretching, her shoes hit a steel railing as she flipped midair and spun, drawing three more arrows simultaneously before sending them into three more dead demons. Landing deftly afterwards, she continued her marathon.

Only half a mile left now, as she cleared buildings faster than she ever had in her life, feeling the air around her shoulders growing thicker and heavier with each progressive step. The screaming of thousands of demons was assaulting her ears. Her pulse was galloping in her veins, driven purely by an animalistic fear she hadn't truly experienced for the longest time, not since she had first seen Madoka lose her life at the hands of Walpurgisnaucht.

A hundred steps later and the rooftops were beginning to peter out, eventually giving way into a vast open courtyard. Flexing her arms and unfurling her massive wings, Homura took to the sky and jetted across the remaining distance, stopping only when the solid wall of demons blocked her path.

It was even worse up close. It was like a whirlpool of oil. Wings flapping in distress, Homura looked down angrily at her bow and arrows. Powerful as they were, they did not pack enough successive firepower to break through such a considerable barrier. It seemed that drastic measured had become necessary once again.

Floating backwards, the girl swept her hand and opened up eleven portals, mentally shifting through her artillery inventory as the storm continued to rage around her. Then she struck her hand down and missiles began flying out of the portals, one after another, for she had not even bothered to extract the launchers themselves from storage, instead allowing the weapons to fire freely and directing the projectiles in one single direction. She held her arm down and kept it there, firing so many that her stores began to run dry, but finding this observation to be wholly unnecessary as she poured missile after missile into her enemy, watching grimly as gouts of fire and shrapnel roared across the black storm.

Finally, when the last of her launchers had been exhausted, Homura spun and tore an MG3 machine gun from the eleventh portal, breaking the safety before spiraling directly towards the impact zone, firing indiscriminately as she fell. The deafening clatter of the bullets and the rumbling growls of the rockets galloped straight through her chest cavity, and her ears throbbed in beat with her pulse, but Homura ignored it all as her Soul Gem glowed an intense violet and she ripped a hole straight through the wall of demons, firing all the while, never even considering moderation.

She would have kept flying towards the ground and emptying magazines until every last demon was dead, but was abruptly hindered when she saw something crimson glinting up at her from the blackness below. Squinting, Homura had barely a second to brace herself as a massive sphere of red energy blasted up towards her feet, blowing the demons between them apart into nothing. The shield user flinched when the light reach her, fearing the worst, but instead found that the illumination simply bypassed her, instead rising up to the moon, destroying even more enemies before shattering into crimson rain.

And there Kyouko was when she looked down, cut up and bleeding from everywhere, but still standing and smiling up at her, her face filled with nothing but indignation. It was at that moment that Homura realized how much of a fool she had been to consider shouldering everything herself, when she had had someone so strong to fall back on.

Feeling the last moans of the demons above her fading away, Homura lightly folded her wings and touched down, wanting nothing more than to reach out and repeat those words out loud.

"Kyouko-"

Her words were consumed by an engulfing light.

Sight being a quicker form of perception, Homura saw every window on the top floor of the hospital flash a pale green before a sharp ringing swept past them. Feet hitting the floor, she recoiled from the intense brightness and threw a hand up before her face, shielding her eyes from this energy which was not simple light, but an illumination which made her soul tremble.

"What's going on?!" Screamed Kyouko, who was also crouching to the ground beside her. Behind her, Homura saw the expanse of light condense and form a tight ball around something behind one of the now shattered windows. This feeling, this sensation...she hadn't experienced it for months now, ever since she had at last witnessed the vanquishing of Walpurgisnaucht.

"Kyubey," The shield user whispered.

Mami was shouting.

Looking up, their hearts leapt when they saw that the demons were once again consolidating above them. Dismay broke through Kyouko's chest. Had her greatest attack not sufficed to at least drive away their foe? It appeared not, for the shadows were gathering in even thicker numbers now. The moon, which had grown momentarily visible, was gone again.

"Prepare yourselves!" Homura shouted as she wrenched open her machine gun and emptied out the depleted magazine. "This isn't over yet. Everyone form a circle!"

Her words seemed to reach the other two Puella Magi, for their blinked and began to frantically prepare their weapons once more, Kyouko finally unchaining her spear as Mami shakily cocked a rifle. The three of them stepped backwards towards each other until they had formed a loose circle, as Homura set her lips into a grim line and watched the skies above, wondering how Kyouko had managed to hold out for so long against it.

Beyond them, the pale green light had faded out.

Her musings were shattered when one of the demons suddenly screamed, and all of them began to descend.

"Shit," Kyouko cursed. "My powers are all dry. I can't hold them off like this!"

"My Trio Finale is exhausted," Mami added, her voice shaking.

The demons were getting closer.

Homura found herself unable to answer her fellow Puella Magis' unspoken questions, too preoccupied with finding a possible solution to their predicament. Everything had fallen apart. Her plans, her schemes, everything she had hoped for, all gone. Now here they were, not attacking from above from defending from below, feeling too much like the demons they were accustomed to crushing underfoot. Yet, backing down had yet to become an option to her. She had decided to avoid failure ever since witnessing the death of her friends for the first time. Cocking her machine gun, the shield user prepared to turn and order her friends to fight by her side.

There, beyond the black clouds, was the anomaly. It wasn't following its brethren into the fray, instead floating menacingly behind them, as if to be a spectator to the battle. Homura felt her fingers coil painfully around the cold metal of her weapon as time began to freeze, until there was nothing left for her to see except the freak of a demon in the distance, the colors continuously draining from everything so that Homura was forced to realize that she had, indeed, stopped time, completely out of instinct.

Looking down at her now glowing shield, Homura swallowed heavily. Just how afraid was she for her body to react without her own jurisdiction? She could feel it crawling back into her gut, the pure terror which had swamped her upon first discovering the anomaly in the abandoned warehouse, infecting her bones and leeching away her courage. Steeling her nerves before her magic ran out and became invalid, she raised her head and stared straight at the still form of the warped demon. She was horrified to find that she had caught it between phase changes, so that she was witnessing a revolting mix between loved ones. She saw Madoka's pain filled eyes somewhere in the mix, a classmate's terrified cry.

Then her eyes drifted further downwards and she saw Kyouko's split and bleeding snarl, halfway between a laugh and a roar.

All denial had fled at this point. There was an audible click as her time ran out and her shield lost its power, and color swept back in to fill the spaces. Time kickstarted around them again as Homura turned jerkily and looked both the other magical girls in the eyes, making their hearts leap with the genuine fear in her violet irises.

"We can't make a stand here," Homura said to them, voice remarkably steady.

"Then what do we do?" Kyouko whispered.

She almost turned to look back at the anomaly, but didn't allow herself to.

Fortunately enough, Mami had. "They're on us!" She shouted, and Homura spun to see the wave of demons spill over the borders of the square and sweep across the flat expanse.

"Run!" The girl snarled, flexing and summoning her wings. She reached out a seized Kyouko by the arm, saying gruffly "Hold onto me," before extending her other hand towards Mami. But the blonde simply stared out the outstretched arm, not responding.

Her blood was singing in her ears. "Come on!" Homura yelled, trying to lash out and grab the older girl, but she evaded these attempts. "What are you _doing_?"

A smile on her face, an expression Homura felt was impossible then, as Mami quietly shook her head and took two steps back. "No. Leave me here. Go while you can."

The shield user was about to offer an extremely harsh rebuttal when Kyouko suddenly thrashed her way out of her grip, tumbling to the floor before throwing her arms up before the charging demons which had reached them by now, the now familiar barrier forming just before impact. The spear wielder groaned when the enemies collided with her shield as she was forced to exert herself further, already exhausted as the stress stretched her open bleeding wounds.

"Kyouko..." Mami whispered, too frazzled to even think about attacking the enemy.

Homura narrowed her eyes. "Do you see this, Mami? All this suffering and destruction? All your fault. Your foolishness and hypocrisy has led to it all!"

Kyouko grunted again when the demons collectively reared back and smashed against the barrier, causing it to tremble. It broke Homura's heart to but her at such expense, but didn't allow her anger to be quelled. This had to be done.

The blonde kept her solemn smile among the raging fires. "You're right. It has. So why not simply leave me here to die? I'm asking you to let me take responsibility," She continued, having to yell now over the rumbling. "Isn't that what you wanted, Homura? For me to get what I deserve?"

"Yes! No!" Homura screamed, standing straight and hurling her firearm into the dirt. "You need to know. You need to understand! There is no glory in self sacrifice! It's worthless! If you die here, everything I've worked for will be wasted!"

"You accuse me of hypocrisy?!" Mami screamed suddenly, losing her composure. The barrier was beginning to flicker. "Just look at yourself! Living and killing for the sake of a girl who doesn't exist. You've just invented Madoka to justify your own obsession, which makes you no more innocent than I am!"

"I have a duty to protect you!" Homura shrieked, almost sobbing now.

"I have that same duty!" Mami ground out, walking up to her. "You saw the light in the windows. If we fail here, that rat Kyubey will replace me with Kiku! If you claim to be so superior, then stay here and fight, and die with me!"

Homura was taken aback by those words, finding none of her own to fling back. Die with Mami to prove her validation...she couldn't do that. But didn't that mean her cause was weaker than Mami's? But she couldn't die here! Who else would watch over the city Madoka had cherished so?

But then she looked back at Kyouko's labored figure, and realized the true reason why she couldn't stay to die.

Both of them dead...

...she couldn't do that do her.

Looking back again, Homura drilled her eyes into Mami's azure to gold, trying one last time to find any chink or flaw in the armor which was her choice.

She found none.

Her shield was not activated, but the world suddenly felt much grayer around her. There were no more words left to say. Only action. The unspoken understanding passed from one magical girl to another. It was the only thing, really, which had truly bound them until now, this shared curse their both bore. It wasn't much, but it was everything too.

Mami smiled one last time and nodded.

"Go."

Spinning, Homura dashed towards Kyouko's unsuspecting form. The redhead was still pouring everything she had into maintaining the shield, sweat mixed with blood streaking across her skin as small arcs of crimson electricity discharged off her body. The shield user realized that she would only have one chance at this. Kyouko not allow her to leave Mami for dead.

Timing her jump carefully, Homura planted her feet and dove forward as she called forth her wings, using the extra propulsion to seize Kyouko by the midsection and sweep the girl off her feet, immediately sweeping her wings afterwards to rocket up into the sky, the sudden attack causing the shield were flicker intensely before finally dying out.

Kyouko began resisting spontaneously. "What the fuck?!" The spear wielder roared, punching Homura repeatedly on the shoulder. "What are you doing? Get back there! Mami! She's still down there! Go back!"

Homura refused to respond verbally to her friend, instead maneuvering deftly through the air and away from Mami, away from the courtyard and the demons, away from the broken hospital and the sickly green comet falling down from the heavens.

A comet from the heavens...?

Wrenching them both around, Homura's dilated irises expanded further when they took in the sight of what was quite literally a comet, blasting from one of the hospital's open windows and searing straight for the frail looking figure of Mami Tomoe.

"No!" Kyouko screamed, a second before the projectile struck the earth.

It was like the big bang. No explosions. No reverberating crash. Only the universe trembling around them, silently, without identity. The same green light blossomed and expanded from the crash site, stretching and stretching so far and so high until it had surrounded both of them, until everything Homura could see was a shimmering emerald.

And there, at the gem's center, was Kiku Hanezawa, kneeling on the ground that didn't exist anymore, holding Mami's face cupped gently in her hands. There was nothing to understand beyond that, just the still frame image of the two of them and a relationship Homura knew she would never comprehend.

They were murmuring things to each other. As the second slipped shyly by, she could only make out one word as it slipped out of Kiku's lips.

_Goodbye._

Then the explosions really started, and Homura felt them both being wiped away.

* * *

><p><strong>This story will now take a much more lighthearted tone after the next chapter or so, because dammit this fic is listed under romance and I adore KyouxHomu. <strong>

**Please don't trust any more promises I make about updates.**

**Not that many people are reading this anyways.**

**Do review!**

**~Shrrg**


	7. A Nova's Glow

**Hooray for very long filler. Or is this filler? Something between filler and whatever the opposite of filler is.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 7: A Nova's Glow<p>

_Laughter._

_Grinning contentedly, she watched her mother and sister giggling with each other at the other side of the room, slowly devouring an apple. The setting sun was shining its relaxed rays through the stained glass windows of the church, bathing everything in a blanket of comfort._

_Her father was talking with a member of today's service, laughing and joking about something. She couldn't hear precisely what the two men were talking about, but knew that it wasn't awfully important that she did. Her family was laughing and they were happy. That was all that mattered._

_The conversation in the distance ceased and she heard footsteps clicking in their direction. A moment later her father emerged through the door to the private room, wearing that worn and lighthearted smile she had missed so much at one point. Her sister broke away from their mother to rush over and embrace him, and adult and child chuckled together._

_"Another packed crowd, hm?" Her mother asked rhetorically with a bemused smile, walking over to her husband._

_Her father laughed. "Yes. They just keep coming in larger numbers every week. It's quite a sight to see."_

_"Are you famous, Papa?" Her little sister asked innocently, looking up to her father with eyes filled with glorious wonder._

_He smiled and stooped over to lift her daughter off her feet, making the girl squeal happily. "I guess you could say that. The name of this church has been all over town lately. And do you know why, dear?"_

_"Why, Papa?"_

_Her father took a moment to look them all in the eye, resting at last when his irises had locked with hers._

_"Because we are a strong, loving, and honest family."_

_She felt a little bit of her happiness turn black._

_He continued speaking, reaching out to pull his wife close. "Keeping loved ones close is important. It makes us all stronger. So long as we remain faithful to each other, nothing will ever fall out of our favor."_

_She wasn't interested in listening to his words anymore. Looking down at her apple, the portion she had been chewing in her mouth suddenly tasted sour._

_As if to drive the spike deeper, the alien reached into her mind and spoke._

_[...I suppose this is what you humans call irony...?]_

* * *

><p>Sirens were wailing in the distance.<p>

It made Homura wondered why, wherever she went things always had to announce imminent danger. She felt like a ticking bomb, volatile and set to go off at any moment, as if she wasn't in control of her own circumstances. It made her sick to the core.

But right now, something else was making her feel even worse.

Turning slowly, bow still menacingly in hand, the shield user twisted and locked eyes with the white catlike creature sitting on the edge of the rooftop, its tail being pulled along by the foreboding wind as it stared back at her, undaunted, or perhaps failing to comprehend the meaning of intimidation.

Kyouko, too, was standing and staring daggers at Kyubey, although she looked less formidable when she was covered in cuts and clutching one lame arm. The power of the Soul Gem had faded and she was back to wearing her standard clothing, which thankfully provided enough coverage to hide the fact that she was still bleeding into her jacket. She didn't need Homura worrying about her. Not now.

Not when they had so many questions to answer.

Homura was the first one to actively broach the subject. Fingers twitching with the uncontrollable urge to draw and nock an arrow, she walked until she had covered the distance between herself and Kyubey, so that they could look at each other face to face, one brimming with anger and the other empty of compassion.

"All right, Kyubey," She let out slowly, "You have three seconds to begin explaining."

[_And if I don't?_] The alien asked calmly, its constant smile remaining fixed on its face.

The raven haired girl regarded the animal cooly, but there was no mistaking the fierce anger in her eyes. "I send this entire quiver through your sorry heart, assuming you have one, as well as any replacements you might have brought along."

[_My bodies are infinite. It would be a rather profound waste of energy to follow up on such a bluff._]

"I am not bluffing."

"Enough of this!" Kyouko suddenly snarled from her position behind them. She walked up to Kyubey and jabbed her finger in the alien's face, spitting out, "You gain nothing from keeping us in the dark! In fact, you only stand to lose. I want a clear explanation of just..." She paused. "...just what the hell happened back there. Otherwise, you can consider yourself one Puella Magi short."

"You've already killed at least one of us tonight, Kyubey," Homura spoke with a voice that was trembling now, despite her best efforts. "Are you willing to extend your gamble?"

The white creature stared up and them for a while, as the sirens continued to scream somewhere far behind them, as the sound of choppers and shouting police officers echoed across the buildings. Then it seemed to sigh, letting its head sag between its shoulders.

[_Tomoe-san isn't dead._]

Homura's grip on her bow slackened.

[_She is not dead,_] Kyubey repeated, getting to its feet and walking delicately along the edge of the rooftop as the two magical girls stared at it, absolutely dumbfounded. [_So I do believe your statement earlier has now been invalidated, Akemi-san._]

"But..." Homura whispered, feeling her hands go cold, "But how?"

"I saw the explosion," Kyouko cut in, her voice grating and distrustful. "I saw Mami. She was being blurred away. Are you telling me she managed to survive that?"

[_Of course I am,_] The alien insisted, sounding exasperated. [_For better or worse, Mami Tomoe is alive and well. Though of course, her salvation did come at a rather regrettable expense._]

_Goodbye._ Suddenly, the wailing sirens felt a lot closer. Too close. As if the cries of the dead were searching for them.

"What...what do you mean?" Kyouko asked, although her eyes said that she had much too good of an idea already.

Kyubey simply shrugged. [_You and Tomoe were about to be overwhelmed by demons. I had Akemi go out to assist you, but I knew that would not be enough to tip the scales in our favor, and I could not afford to lose all three of you. You are the most powerful Puella Magi for miles of this city. Your deaths would be a massive blow to the ambitions of my race._]

"And how did you manage to tip the scales?" Homura voiced, although she no longer required an explanation. Still, she needed to hear it. To make it real. Or it may haunt her forever.

[_As coincidence would have it, Kiku Hanezawa, a classmate of yours, happened to be residing in the hospital just outside the point at which you were pinned down. I submitted myself into her consciousness and formed a contract with her. What you saw afterwards was the result of her wish. That much was completely beyond my control._]

"Oh, but it wasn't, was it?" Homura interrupted, seething. "You may call it chance, Kyubey, but you knew exactly what Hanezawa was going to wish for! What did you have to do to push her over the edge? Did you reveal the existence of demons to her? Or better yet, did you let her see firsthand? Either way, you manipulated her into sacrificing herself for Mami's sake!"

[_I did what was necessary to prolong the battle against entropy,_] Kyubey responded coldly, its tail lashing back and forth. [_It is true that Hanezawa's death was a setback in my plans, but it was necessary to keep the three of you in commission. I presented her with an offer and she wished to protect Tomoe's life at any cost. To her, that meant giving up her life. All I can account for is that Tomoe is indeed still alive, and every demon which was involved in marauding her was destroyed. The ends justify the means, Akemi-san. Isn't that one of your race's honored sayings?_]

Homura's irises dilated, and she took several steps back, hands twitching. "In our race, one person's beliefs do not dictate the actions of the rest. Something that your kind will never be able to understand, Kyubey."

[_And for good reason._]

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Kyouko growled, voice wavering dangerously. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably and her breathing was becoming erratic, but somehow the girl still manage to yank her Soul Gem out of her pocket and activate it, so that a portion of her spear emerged from the glowing ruby and swung around to rest its tip against Kyubey's throat.

The alien looked back, uncaring.

"You threw away a life for the sake of your plans?" The redhead was breathing heavily now, and Homura was shocked to see her other arm go slack, revealing the blood soaked clothing she had been concealing underneath. "Have you no morals? No, of course you don't...there's no truth, no decisions for you...just want you need and how to get it, you damn cursed piece of..."

"Kyouko!" Homura gasped when the redhead's slurs drifted off into nothing as her eyes closed and she collapsed, Soul Gem hitting the floor and spinning rapidly afterwards, looking like a crimson vortex, sucking everything up and burning it into nothing.

Kyubey almost seemed to laugh at the display. [_Well then, would you rather that I let Tomoe-san perish? Don't be daft with me. Even humans have the ability to understand what is necessary._]

Homura heard these words but did not respond at all to them, instead rushing over to Kyouko's prone and terrifyingly still form, grabbing the redhead and turning her over onto her back. What was revealed as a result made her the sickest of all. Blood was staining large portions of the girl's underclothes, and when she feverishly pulled back the fabric Homura saw a deep cut welling over the collarbone, arcing upwards to reach into the neck, so that every pulse pumped more blood out into the unforgiving night air.

Reaching over and tearing off Kyouko's jacket, Homura was horrified to see a multitude of smaller, shallower cuts criss crossing over the forearms, which would have been bare while the redhead was in fighting form, as well as several slashes down the lengths of both calves. It appalled the shield user to realize she hadn't noticed such a massive amount of injuries until now. Ever since breaking through the storm of demons, she hadn't had a moment to spare on assuring the well being of her friend.

_I have to get her somewhere safe,_ Homura thought rapidly. Reaching downwards and seizing the end of her over-jacket, she tore off the edges and quickly wrapped a rudimentary bandage around the girl's legs, pressing a third one against the neck to stop the continuous bleeding there. Then she gathered Kyouko up in her arms and called forth her wings, forgoing any preoccupations concerning stealth and she thundered off the rooftop and speed towards the moon, heading for her own apartment.

As her wings carried her further from the sirens, she heard the last of Kyubey's derision.

[_Compassion's a flaw. You should never let it show._]

* * *

><p>The feeling of ice cold water hitting her face was both blissful and harsh.<p>

Homura pressed her slippery fingers against the nozzle of the faucet, twisting until she heard the stream of water cease. Then she wiped at her eyes and stood there for a moment, postponing the traditional follow up of using a towel to dry her face, instead staring down at the hole in the sink as she watched the last of the dirty water slip down the drain, face dripping continuously.

Silence pervaded the building again, and Homura could hear the steady sound of Kyouko's breathing in the next room. She had fled to her apartment as quickly as magically possible, crashing through the door and flying through her cabinets in search of where she kept her medical supplies. Then had come the long, arduous process of tending to the redhead's wounds. Kyouko's had moaned in brief pain though most of the process, and Homura had tried her best to ease the pain for her friend, but there was only so much she could do. Eventually, after many semi-conscious grunts of pain and rolls of bandages, she had managed to put Kyouko to sleep on the expanded couch. Homura had simply sat there for a little while afterwards, heart beating fleetingly in her ears as she took in the sight of Kyouko fast asleep with her chest and limbs completely bound.

She hated the sight of Kyouko gritting her teeth and crying out. She hated it. It made her guts clench too much.

Why hadn't she simply taken her to a hospital? The question had only occurred to her after the medical process had been completed. Regardless of how skilled she was as an individual, it was obvious that a trained medical staff would have done a better job of ensuring Kyouko's health. She did have the easy reason for not being able to explain the injuries to authorities. After all, how did a fourteen or fifteen year old girl end up with a damaged jugular and blood splattered clothes? But Homura knew more than well enough that this wasn't the actual reason.

The truth was, she simply didn't trust anyone else to look after the girl. Homura didn't know if this was just selfish or a mark of her concern, or both, but in any case she had no intention of going back on her decision. She would be the one to nurse Kyouko back to health. Homura felt partially responsible for the redhead's injuries, anyways. At the very least, there was not too much cause for worry; being a magical girl, Kyouko's healing process and capacity for recovery was at least quadrupled. The fact was that most any magical girl was completely capable of shrugging off a deep flesh wound in about a week.

She just wasn't used to seeing it happen.

Sighing, the raven haired girl turned and grabbed the towel off a rack, using it to rub her face dry. As she did, she remembered the few minutes she had spent with Mami as the demons had raged around the crimson barrier, and the words they had screamed at each other in that time. She wondered at what may have driven the blonde to throw her life down for the sake of another, for Kiku Hanezawa. What kind of a relationship could they have had to warrant such a sacrifice? Kyouko had compared her to Mami, saying that as they were both living for the prosperity of another, they were more alike than they thought. But was that really true? Madoka had given her life countless times at the hands of Walpurgisnacht. From timeline to timeline, this had not changed, so in technicality Homura was returning a favor. She doubted Hanezawa had done as much for Mami as the blonde thought she had done for her.

Leaving the wet towel hanging forlornly on the rack, Homura exited the bathroom and padded barefoot across the hall, heading back for the central room where she had put Kyouko to rest. Upon reentering the room, she found the redhead still sound asleep on the couch, which had been expanded into a bed, the tight expression on her face having loosened considerably. There was still a little tension there, the kind Homura felt nothing would ever be able to untangle, but beyond that Kyouko looked relaxed.

Walking around the end of the bed quietly, she observed the girl's sleeping form. So much had happened in the last few hours, so much that she was still astounded that only a small amount of time had actually passed. She and Kyouko had done so much. The shape shifting demon, the disturbance and subsequent cleansing of the hotspot, the near death of Mami…it was all spinning in her head still, so that the peace and calm of the house felt like the eye of the storm and not its end.

Lifting one knee, Homura crawled gingerly onto the bed and sat cross legged on the unoccupied side of the mattress, doing her best not to disturb the balance. The impulsiveness of human beings, as well as her own instincts, still managed to surprise her. She hadn't even given a second thought after hearing that Kyouko's life was in danger. She had simply summoned her wings and bolted. But what could have driven such a response? Whether she liked to admit it or not, Homura actually understood only a portion of who Kyouko Sakura was.

Certainly, she now considered the two of them to be friends. But to what extent? She didn't know the redhead's fears or beliefs, nothing of her past beyond how she had come to be a magical girl, or her personal opinions and attitudes on a variety of subjects. Homura's logic told her that such was to be expected, as they had only known each other for a limited time in this timeline. Just short of a year, if Kyouko's current memories were to be used as a proper measurement. Between the demon hunting and conflicts with Mami, there hadn't been any time for her to become intimate with the spear-weilder.

Still, something inside of her wished that weren't so. The curiosity which had partially driven her to rekindle her relationship with Kyouko had now transformed, turning into a drive to truly understand her. A little part of her reasoning tickled her again, telling Homura that perhaps she was thinking about this a little too hard, and she had to admit her musings were likely taken out of context. Yet she couldn't deny her desires. She couldn't explain why at all, but she wanted to know Kyouko the way she had known Madoka.

She must have been shifting in her thoughts too vigorously, because the mattress creaked, causing Kyouko to open her eyes.

Homura blinked in surprise and lifted her chin off her hand. "…You're awake."

"Unfortunately," The slightly older girl grunted, not moving for apparent fear of aggravating her injuries, instead staring hard up at the ceiling. "I feel like hell."

"You look like it too," Homura replied, fighting back a smile that wasn't bemused but instead infused with relief. If Kyouko was able to complain, she was probably going to be fine.

The redhead chuckled softly, her chest rising and falling only in fractional portions. "Heh. I probably do. I was stupid for trying to cover up my cuts like that."

"Yes, you were indeed," Homura said. She tried to utter the words diplomatically, but some of her anger must have found a way to slip through because the girl laying before her frowned and managed to look her in the eye.

"Hey," She said, "Are you mad at me?"

Homura broke the eye contact and stared down at the sheets. "No. Maybe. Of course I am," She decided at last, although there was no menace behind the confession.

Kyouko just grinned at her, that same toothy smile she always somehow managed to pull off, no matter how bad things became. "Do I need to ask why?"

"It would greatly discredit your intelligence for that to be necessary."

The redhead finally laughed. "Wow. You really are pissed, eh?"

"It's just…" Homura bit her lip, something that she noticed drew Kyouko's eyes to that area. "I don't understand. You went after the anomaly, unprepared. Why?"

Kyouko exhaled heavily through her nose, slowly turning her head back to stare at the ceiling, the sound coming out as something between a sigh and a huff of exhaustion. Homura stared into the girl's eyes and still saw the familiar light in them, but it was dimmed and flickering, not in danger of going out but worn out.

"I don't know. I just felt like I had to," The redhead said at last, softly. "I saw what that thing did to you. And I know this might sound stupid coming from me right now, but you were in pretty bad shape. It made me angry to see that. I wanted to find that demon and kill it. To prevent any more problems down the line, of course, but…" She let her eyelids fall just a little bit, and she seemed to lower her voice a fraction. "…I just didn't want to see you like that again."

"If you felt angry then," Homura replied slowly, "How do you think I feel right now?"

Kyouko smiled weakly and reached out with her less injured hand to lightly bump her on the knee. "I know. I'm sorry."

The raven haired girl simply sighed and lightly clasped Kyouko's stretched out hand, holding it for a moment before placing it back on the bed. "It's okay. I would have done the same."

The redhead nodded in agreement, looking up again at the ceiling. "Your pendulum's off," She noted, drawing the younger girl's attention to the massive weight fixated to the roof, something which was usually seen swinging steadily back and forth to denote the precise time. But tonight it was still and motionless, like the hand of fate had reached out a stilled the ticking of the clock, as if the time in the room was infinite and could stretch out forever.

"I stopped it. Thought it would disturb your sleep," Homura admitted.

The girl snorted in mock sarcasm. "Oh, please. I sleep like a log. You could wave a damn Pocky under my nose and I wouldn't wake up. And I really love Pocky."

Homura let a small smile show through and rolled her eyes. "I'm quite aware. You also seem more than capable of sharing a bed and still sleeping soundly."

Kyouko showed her teeth again and laughed, a little more vigorously this time. "I'm pretty sure _you_ were the one who crawled on top of_ me_."

Homura blinked and looked away, blushing just slightly at the more intimate details of the memory. "Well, I was…under the influence."

The redhead just laughed at her again. "Of course you were. I'm not judging you or anything. Now, would you mind helping me sit up? Your ceiling is boring and my back is killing me."

The raven haired girl frowned at this suggestion, looking her friend up and down. "Are you sure? I just wrapped your bandages. You might feel rather sore later."

Kyouko snorted. "I fought a magical girl and a thousand demons in one night and I'm still in one piece. Pretty sure I can manage to change my altitude by a foot or two."

Homura pursed her lips, reluctantly standing up on her knees to assist her friend. "You always carry your sarcasm around with you, don't you?"

"That's why I quit school. Teachers couldn't handle my superior wit."

The redhead grunted lowly a couple times as she attempted to sit up with Homura's help, moving slowly and carefully until she had finally managed to prop herself up against the back of the couch-bed. Homura leaned back next to her after making sure she was secure, feeling the cool surface of the sheets kissing her bare legs and arms. Any attempts to feel particularly comfortable were promptly thwarted, however, when Kyouko shifted her weight and leaned her shoulder against hers.

Homura was suddenly very worried that they were sitting in such proximity to each other, as she was quite sure Kyouko would be able to feel the heat coming off of her face at that moment. Regardless of how tired or spent she may be, she was always extremely vulnerable to physical contact with another person. Even during her time with Madoka, Homura had rarely been the one to initiate hugs or things of the like, blushing whenever the pink haired girl casually brought them close to each other. It made her upset to know that she had such an obvious and particular weakness, a weakness which was being unknowingly exploited at this very moment. Or perhaps Kyouko knew exactly what she was doing.

The wild rampage of her thoughts were thankfully distracted by their instigator. "One of us is always saving the other's butt, huh?" Kyouko chuckled, making her shiver when the redhead's voice sounded so close to her ear.

Homura managed to compose herself properly before responding. "Well, the score is two to one. So I wouldn't call it very balanced."

The redhead hummed softly in her throat, the sound transferring to brush across the other girl's skin. "You have a point. Maybe I should stop fighting on the ground."

"Something tells me you wouldn't be very satisfied with elevated combat."

She couldn't see, but Homura felt Kyouko's guilty smile. "I wouldn't be. Good thing I've got you."

"And Mami," Homura murmured.

She felt the redhead stiffen a bit at the blonde's mention and felt a small pang of regret. It had not been her intention to ruin the delicacy of the atmosphere, not when she was finally beginning to enjoy it herself. It felt like ages since she had had the time to simply sit down with someone and chat, and even though she wasn't the type of person to indulge in aimless conversation very often, she still craved it from time to time. They might have only been talking about magical girl related topics now, but Homura felt that given time, they could have branched out into broader, more innocent topics.

Still, the topic had to be broached. As much as she wanted to be relaxed around Kyouko, Homura also hated avoiding things for the sake of integrity.

"I know," Kyouko responded at last. "But she isn't going to be around for a while, is she?"

"No. I wouldn't expect her to be," Homura replied levelly. She thought back to some random snatches of audio she had heard from the news earlier, before she had gone to cleanse herself. "The police found her where she was. They turned her over to the staff at the hospital for medical examination. The reporters say she's alive and in stable condition."

She noticed that the redhead's breathing was going a little more slowly, and duly noted how exhausted they both were. "That's good. I'm glad she's okay." But they both caught the fire burning beneath the cool words.

"But you're bothered by what it cost," Homura deduced.

Kyouko pursed her lips. "Of course I am. It's going to bother me for a long time. Aren't you?"

"You saw my reaction. I was disturbed, too," Homura replied. "I didn't know Hanezawa-san personally. We only spoke together once, and it wasn't a pleasant conversation. But it still made me feel sick to realize Kyubey cut her life down, even if it was to preserve Mami and her ability to kill demons…"

"That's what makes me so angry," The injured girl ground out, although there wasn't much energy there. She reached out and traced her thumb over Homura's wrist. "I don't know who's right. Us or Kyubey? We knew Mami better, but she hasn't been the best of people to us as of late…in fact, I don't think she considers us to be her allies anymore. But does that mean it wasn't worth sacrificing Hanezawa's life? I can't answer that either. I keep thinking about it and I always come back to the fact that regardless of any of those things, Kyubey did what was necessary…but that makes me feel like I'm thinking like an Incubator."

Homura let her neck go a little slack, moving just enough to feel the tips of Kyouko's hair brushing her face. "I held the same fear too," She admitted. "That I was becoming too much like what Kyubey's race is. Just a machine with nothing but a goal and the work needed to get there. So I started searching for something to separate us, to prove that I was still human.

"Then Hanezawa made her wish, and I saw her lay out her life for someone I considered to be completely undeserving of it," She continued, feeling an odd pressure building up in her throat. Something that felt familiar but wasn't. "I saw them talking to each other before she was wiped away, and…Kyouko, she said goodbye to her. And she looked absolutely content while saying it. When Kyubey condemned compassion afterwards, I wondered if that was what drew the line between us. The fact that humans will make blatant sacrifices for nothing. I thought about Mami, and I thought about Madoka, and suddenly I realized he might be right…"

"Homura?"

It occurred to her then that her vision was blurring because she was crying. She wasn't particularly bawling, but fat tears were slowly forming at the corners of her eyes and dripping quietly down her cheeks, alarming Kyouko considerably. It became obvious then that she had been holding back the stress for quite some time now. Even as she endured the terror of encountering the shape shifting demon, she had not cried. Now it was all escaping at once, something made even worse by the fact that there was someone to witness her weakness. Reaching up to her face and rubbing angrily at her swollen eyes, Homura turned away from Kyouko, muttering, "It's nothing. Don't worry-"

Her words were gently brushed away when one bandaged arm reached out and pulled her back, and suddenly her head was being held against Kyouko's chest. Homura looked up in wonder at the redhead's crimson eyes, and the girl just looked back at her, wearing a sheepish smile.

"Hey," She said. "Don't get all clammy on me. You know I don't like that."

Homura bit her lip and looked away. "I'm not being clammy."

"You are," Kyouko insisted as she brushed her midnight locks out of her face, making the girl stare angrily downwards.

The redhead smiled again. "I listened to what you said you felt after seeing what Kiku did. And I understand what you're trying to say. But I still think you're wrong."

Homura blinked, her sadness momentarily blocked off by confusion. "What do you mean?"

"People don't make stupid decisions just because they're stupid creatures," Kyouko began slowly, seemingly organizing her thoughts. She played her fingers across the younger girl's hair. "The things we do might seem pretty dumb sometimes, but we do it because we care about each other. You never really said it, but I can tell you're a little miffed that you can't understand why Kiku did what she did. We're angry about this for different reasons, I think. Me because I don't know who's right, and you because you don't know what caused all this in the first place."

Homura pouted in irritation. "I'm not that stupid. I know what you are trying to tell me. Hanezawa acted out of compassion."

"Precisely," The redhead agreed. "But it seems to be like you consider that compassion to be separate from yourself. I'm not so great with words, so all I can say is that it's all relative. What you have with Madoka isn't totally different from what Mami and Kiku had. The circumstances weren't the same, and the results weren't really the same. But you both do what you decided to do because you care about that person. Sometimes, personal safety isn't the most important thing anymore."

The shield user stared up at her in the eye and reached up slowly, grasping the redhead's hand in her hair and holding it. "How do you know all this?"

Kyouko blinked. "Family troubles, of course." She let out a forced laugh. "When I made my wish, I chose to lie to my family and everyone my dad preached his sermons to. It was wrong and I knew it, but I did it anyway because I cared about my family. In hindsight, it didn't work out at all. That's where the stupid part comes in, and that's what I think I'm trying to say, really. We're different from what Kyubey is, but not simply because we're foolish and idiotic. We act that way because we have better intentions than Kyubey's race ever will."

Homura lay very still, still wrapped up in the redhead's embrace, absorbing and digesting the meaning of the words she had just heard. It proved to be unnaturally difficult for her to do. She had lived almost her entire life by her own specific creed, having never found a superior one or ever finding herself in need of such a thing. But now here she was with an uncertainty, and Kyouko had attempted to fill the hole. There was still one thing keeping her back from accepting it, however. Using her arms to peel herself away from the redhead and sit up on her own again, Homura drew her knees up to her chin before posing her final question.

"In that case, why did you almost sacrifice yourself for me?"

"…What?"

"You had very obvious ties to your family," Homura continued, refusing to let the words fall apart on her tongue. "And I had equally obvious reasons to indebt myself to Madoka. But why did you do the same for me? Please do not misinterpret my meaning; I consider you to be a very important friend. I just…"

The raven haired girl was immensely surprised to be cut off by Kyouko's laughter.

"I don't think I'm misunderstanding you at all," The redhead got out between chuckles. "Basically, are you asking me what reasons I had for choosing to help you?"

"Yes…"

Kyouko wore a bemused smile that somewhat irritated the shield-user. "Do I need a reason for everything? Sometimes I run on impulse, Homura. Not everything is calculated and thought out before it's put into action. Sometimes I just…_do_ things."

The redhead noticed her friend's ashamed expression at her words and felt a touch of sympathy, despite her amusement. Leaning forward, she gently cupped her hands around the girl's ear and whispered, "If you're that worried about it, I'll make sure we have plenty of reasons to fight for each other eventually."

Homura felt the girl's breath tickling her ear and blushed profusely. "Oh…well, I suppose I can live with that."

Kyouko couldn't help grinning again. _She can be so cute sometimes._ "And it starts with getting to know each other, I guess. Which means talking about stuff that _doesn't_ involve demons and evil little alien contractors."

Homura looked worriedly at the time. "Do you mean right now?"

The redhead fought back a long yawn. "Well…maybe not tonight. Tomorrow. I need to get some sleep or I really will be sore in the morning." And with that, she slithered under the sheets, throwing the blanket over her body with nothing more than a muttered "Goodnight."

Homura stared at her friend's still form, quite shocked at how quickly the atmosphere between them had changed. She wondered if this was due to her poor communication skills or just the volatility of Kyouko's personality. Either way, she felt strangely content. Suddenly, the girl now snoring gently in front of her felt a great deal closer. It was a wonder how much words could bridge the gap.

Deciding it would be too much of a hassle to retire to her own room, the raven haired girl slipped under the blankets with the redhead, falling asleep facing her.

_I'll make lots of reasons, too._

* * *

><p>"You've sure got a lot of ramen saved up," Kyouko commented between bites, as she worked on her breakfast.<p>

Taking it as a half jibe, Homura shrugged indifferently. "I know it isn't very nutritious. I've always wanted to learn how to make more complicated things to eat, but I've never had the time. Maybe over the summer?"

"If that ever happens, you might find me coming over a lot more often," The redhead snickered.

A roll of the eyes.

"Be my guest."

There was a small beep as the digital clock sitting next to the kitchen turned, indicating that the time was now 10 AM. Homura had awoken half an hour past seven, bluntly noting that she had overslept and was going to be late for school. After all, she hadn't bothered to set an alarm the previous night. Still, the issue didn't feel too drastic to her. She didn't have any tests this week, and could afford to miss at least one day of school. She wouldn't be sorely missed.

Besides, she had a patient to take care of.

"You sure you're just gonna skip out on school like that?" Kyouko asked around the ends of her chopsticks, as if the girl was capable of reading minds now.

She nodded. "Yes. I don't trust you to stay by yourself in my house. And you're in no condition to walk all the way across town to your own apartment."

The redhead grimaced and shifted her legs a bit under the table. "I guess." The girl had sustained considerable damage the previous night. She would live, certainly, but caution had to be exercised.

"So, what do you plan to do all day then?" Kyouko asked her, finishing the last of her meal and setting the used chopsticks down gently beside the now empty bowl. "I don't imagine you ditch class very often."

"No, I don't. First time, actually."

The older girl laughed. "I'll never understand your obsession with perfect attendance. Well, then do you have anything planned out for today at all?"

"Not really," Homura admitted. "I thought maybe we could go check on Tomoe's condition, but the hospital isn't allowing any visitors at the moment. They're still trying to fix the mess we made there."

"Oh," Kyouko acknowledged shortly, briefly revealing the slight guilt they both felt. "And I guess you aren't so keen on going outside when I'm like this?"

"Not at all."

The redhead pursed her lips in minor irritation. "Am I going to be bored out of my skull until you decide I'm healthy enough to walk out of here?"

"Well…" Homura seemed to genuinely think this over, letting the conversation die out for a moment. "It depends on your definition of boredom."

This prompted Kyouko to groan in mock agony and splay her arms across the length of the table, as the girl let her chin hit the flat surface as well. "Come _on, _Homu-chan. Don't you have anything interesting to do in this house besides plan hunts?"

The raven haired girl stiffened at the impromptu usage of the nickname. "Don't call me that."

Realizing that she may have just discovered a new weak point, the redhead grinned toothily, looking up from the table and asking innocently, "What? Don't call you what? Homu-chan? Why not?"

The student crossed her arms and huffed. "It's _silly_. And it's impractical."

Kyouko raised her neck and laughed out loud. "Well then, what else would you prefer? Homuran? Homu-homu?" Using her palms to push against the edge of the table and slip out of her chair, the girl padded barefoot towards the adjoining central room, holding her chin in contemplation. "Though I do suppose Homerun works too…it's a pretty good pun, don't you think?"

The one receiving so many belittling nicknames simply sighed, raising from her seat as well and grabbing a coffee from the machine working on the nearby counter. "Just do whatever you want. There aren't many others around for the name to stick with."

The redhead pouted, turning and putting her hands on her hips. Behind her, the sun was lighting up everything in the central room. "See, that's your problem, Homu-chan. You never indulge other people. I'd be willing to be you aren't the most popular girl at school."

Homura snorted in exasperation, grabbing a small spoon to stir the coffee with as she walked into the main room after her friend, squinting slightly when the natural illumination struck her eyes. "I have no common ground with them, and I find their topics of interest to be rather idiotic, so I think it's actually to be expected that I am not popular at school. Unless you want me to go around discussing hunting plans with all my classmates."

"Well, that all _we_ ever talk about," Kyouko pointed out, walking over to the wide circular automon sitting between the two couches and sitting on its edge. "Demon related stuff, I mean. Have you ever thought that maybe there's nothing else bouncing around in your head but that?"

Pursing her lips, the younger girl sat on the couch closest to the automon and took a sip of her coffee. "Well, if you want to chatter rabidly about boys and makeup, you'll find plenty of likeminded people at my school."

The redhead whistled, impressed, as she decided to lay down on top of the automon's cushions, closing her eyes. "So you're the 'cool and uncaring' type in class, eh? Some boys are crazy about those. Have you had to shoot down every guy in your class?"

Homura reached up and wiped a stray drop of coffee off her lips. "Hardly. Though I can't say it hasn't happened."

That really drew Kyouko's attention, as the girl cracked and eye open and turned to grin at her. "Oho! So you've actually been confessed to? I like this guy already. I feel like any boy at your school would need balls of steel to lay out his heart to you."

The girl is question blushed profusely. "Stop making me sound like some kind of ruthless bully. I'm not cruel to any of my classmates. But if someone I have absolutely zero interest in decides to confess to me, I can't be expected to accept. I have my responsibilities, obviously, but I also don't find anybody in my classes to be interesting."_  
><em>

Kyouko folded her arms behind her head and stretched, still grinning. "So you _do_ have preferences?"

Did she? She honestly didn't know. She hadn't really made it a priority for herself to identify her own likes and dislikes when it came to personal attraction. Mostly because even if she were to do such a thing, there would never be an opportunity to seek someone who fit the bill; it felt too much like drawing out a hunting plan and not actually putting it into practice. Still, Kyouko's offhanded question sparked her own curiosity. What were her preferences? If she were to construct the ideal partner in her mind, how would she go about it? Someone strong, she supposed. Someone who could carry her as much as she could carry them. Closing her eyes, Homura thought back to the girl she had once been, before her contracting and turned her into a hardened and overly mature individual, and what the timid side of her would have wanted. Because she knew full well that the Homura she had been initially was still there, just buried under everything else. She thought back to memories of her own parents, and Madoka. Someone who could make her feel safe, even if it was a lie.

Someone she could place her faith in unconditionally.

Her thoughts were stopped when Homura heard Kyouko exhale loudly, looking relaxed and at east under the light of the sun. "Just don't pass up on the perfect person if you meet him. Who knows, maybe we won't be magical girls forever. And if that ever changes, you shouldn't have to spend that time alone."

She really was pretty, Homura thought absentmindedly as she stirred at her now cold coffee, watching the redhead dozing peacefully in front of her with her body stretched out across the cushions. She wondered why such a thing was occurring to her now. She never really paid attention to the girls at school, but now that Kyouko was laying before her, Homura found herself shamelessly looking the girl over. One didn't really receive an impression of elegance from the redhead at first encounter, what with her rogue-like style of dress and appearance, paired with her brazen personality. It was easy to imagine the spear-weilder piloting a tank, but not a submarine.

Yet when she looked at her now, Homura couldn't help noticing how slender and fit Kyouko's actually was, her legs long and limber and her neck looking surprisingly graceful underneath the confines of the bandages. She had showered earlier, and now the redhead's long hair looked glossy and strong as it framed a face that looked both sharp and gentle at once, making Homura look at the girl's eyes to find lashes which were actually quite full. The girl was wearing only her tank top and shorts again, showing off more skin than the shield user was used to, although it did allow her the guilty pleasure of understanding more of Kyouko's true form. The rise and fall of her chest, the way she bit her lip in thought once in a while…Homura found herself looking at all of it, her mind going into such an absent state that she instinctively reached out and ran her fingers through Kyouko's hair.

The redhead cracked an eye open. "Whatchu doin?"

Suddenly realizing what she had done, Homura blushed to the roots of her hair and retracted her arm quickly. "I…uh…" She spluttered, mind racing. "I…just thought must be really easy to braid!" She exclaimed, almost immediately kicking herself for coming up with such a stupid excuse on the fly.

Kyouko grinned wolfishly back, something that made Homura awfully nervous. "I don't believe you. You just wanted to touch my hair, didn't you?"

Homura's heart skipped a beat. "No! Of course not!"

But the redhead just pouted, rising from the automon and crawling over to her friend's spot on the couch. "You're no fair, Homu-chan," She whined. "If you get to touch me, I should get to touch you too!"

Homura gasped in shock when the redhead pounced immediately afterwards to emphasize her words, catching the shield user off guard and successfully managing to pin her pin by the arms to the couch. As if this wasn't bad enough, the younger Puella Magi was immensely alarmed when the girl swung her leg over and straddled her, effectively trapping her under her weight.

"Kyouko!" The raven haired girl choked out, her cry a mix of panic and anger. "What do you think you're doing?"

And Homura believed that her reaction was entirely justified in this case. Kyouko was practically _sitting_ on her, leaning forward to place her hands on her captive's chest and hold her there. No matter what she did, the shield user could not move. Yet further immobilizing her was the sheer proximity, as the redhead's freshly washed hair cascaded around her and surrounded them both with the intoxicating scent of strawberries. Did she even own strawberry scented shampoo?

The older girl just smirked back, leaning forward and drawing one limp finger down the length of Homura's arm, making goosebumps erupt over the flesh there. "Oh, nothing. Just trying to test something out, is all. Tell, me Homu-chan…" She whispered, making the girl in question flush when her words were breathed into her captive's ear.

"…are you ticklish?"

Homura's irises dilated. "No, Kyouko, please-"

The girl's pleas were drowned out when her friend simply cackled evilly and began attacking her ribs.

She screamed and began thrashing almost immediately as Kyouko continued her relentless assault, digging her fingers into all of the younger girl's weakest spots. Homura's brain quickly kicked into panic mode as her body began to squirm and twist all on its own, the rather exaggerated display only serving to amuse her torturer even further. Only the gods knew how extremely ticklish she really was. Gasping for breath and kicking crazily, Homura managed to gain enough leverage to flop over onto her stomach, but this only opened the door for Kyouko to attack the insides of her thighs, sending her victim into an even further state of terror.

"God, you really are sensitive!" Kyouko roared with laughter, pausing her assault briefly as the fit took over her entire body.

Homura could only moan pitifully into the pillows, panting, "Kyouko, _please,_ I-"

"No excuses," The redhead snickered as she dug her fingers into Homura's ribs again, making the girl yelp. Her hair was wild and everywhere now, but she hardly cared; she was having too much fun to. Suddenly, she noticed her captive scrabbling desperately for something in the pillows. Frowning, she hesitated, saying, "Hey, what are you-"

Her question was promptly answered when Homura disappeared from under her.

_Oh, great._

A split second later something materialized above her and fell, knocking them both off the edge of the couch and onto the floor.

Blowing the hair out of her eyes and looking up, Kyouko was rather terrified to see an absolutely murderous looking Homura pinning her down, in a perverse reversal of roles. Now the shield user was the one doing the straddling, but there was no amusement sitting behind the confinement, and the redhead felt her soul shirk back at the dark glint in her friend's eyes.

Laughing nervously rather than joyously now, Kyouko tried to move her arms but found them trapped by Homura's wrists. "Ah…look, Homu-chan, I…"

"Silence," Her captor murmured menacingly. "Kyouko Sakura, do you realize what you have just done?"

Gulp. _Uh oh. Last name. _"Uh…" She searched momentarily for the most politically correct answer. "I had a good time?"

That was the wrong answer and she knew it. Shifting her weight forward, Homura leaned in until their noses were almost touching and said, "A good time, hm? So I suppose you assumed the same applied to me, hm? Well if so, I would very much like to correct that misunderstanding. You see, Sakura-san, I absolutely _despise_ being tickled."

"Oh," Kyouko gulped. _Sakura-san? Shit. _"I'll…I'll remember that next time."

Homura leaned back and smiled at her, but there was no warmth in the expression. "Next time, certainly. But this time…

"Sakura-san, are you ticklish?"

Kyouko's skin paled.

* * *

><p><strong>So, this chapter was more lighthearted, as promised. I was actually conflicted because I was worried the tone shifted too drastically in such a short time. I considered taking a couple more chapters to ease into this kind of mood, but my lack of patience didn't allow me to do that.<strong>

**If the sudden happiness did indeed feel out of place, please tell me in the reviews. It's been a while since I wrote in that context and I probably suck at it now.**

**Also, would you rather Homura and Kyouko remained platonic friends, or actually entered a serious romantic relationship?**

**Do tell me!  
><strong>

**~Shrrg**


	8. Meant To Last

**This chapter has an altered ending, which is why it was reposted.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 8: Meant To Last<p>

Homura hated shopping.

The only thing which kept her coming back was the necessity of it, really. And then she still resorted to it only rarely. Seeing as she attended a Japanese school with a uniform code, she thankfully lacked the need to go searching for clothes every season. Summer and winter clothes only had to be partially replaced once a year, seeing as she wouldn't be growing much in the coming years. The only kind of public excursion which drew her out these days was sweeping through the market for groceries, despite the fact that she usually tried to hide out on what little she had until the very last moment.

Unfortunately for her, the additional residence of a certain someone had cut that time rather short.

"Woah! Homura, look, they have _deluxe_ sized Pocky!"

_Ugh…I'll have to invest in a leash and collar_, the shield user grumbled internally as she pushed her shopping cart through the long winding aisles of the supermarket, trying desperately to ignore the stares of her fellow shoppers nearby, some of the glances curious, others filled with irritation. Homura doubted her discomfort was showing externally; in fact, she was most likely perfectly composed to any onlookers, but inside the girl was kicking herself for bringing Kyouko along.

The redhead had immediately drifted away from her upon entering the market, despite Homura's awfully specific instructions to stick close, eventually wandering so far away that they had lost sight of each other. The raven haired girl had fervently hoped her friend wouldn't draw too much attention before she tracked her down, but such a wish was ill made considering who was involved. Finally, after much searching and only partial actual shopping, she had succeeded in grabbing Kyouko by the ear behind a fruit stand and dragging her back to the cart. Yet despite her greatest efforts, the two of them still drew stares.

Pursing her lips in disapproval, Homura discreetly looked at their surroundings. It was the height of the afternoon on a Friday, her third straight day of ditching school. She had yet to figure out what her excuse would be to the administration regarding her unexplained absences, but was at the very least glad for the coming weekend. She hadn't the confidence to blow off five consecutive days of her education. On the flip side, the time of day meant that the market was packed with students from her school, the majority of which would be able to identify her easily. Now Kyouko…she was a different matter, but the redhead tended to stick out in other ways. Homura was used to drawing stares when encountering her peers outside of school, but having her friend with her seemed to be doubling the effect. With her wild looking hair and generally brazen look, Kyouko was attracting a lot of eyes, particularly that of the boys nearby.

"Say, isn't that chick totally hot?" Murmured a third year a couple aisles back.

"I wouldn't be inclined to disagree," His friend muttered back. "I wonder which school she attends?"

Homura briefly showed her teeth as she quietly shifted through a group of vegetables, silently resisting the urge to turn and toss her cabbage heads at the two boys. She didn't know why, but it irked her to hear them talking about Kyouko like that.

As if the negative karmic energy had summoned the girl in question, Homura heard booted footsteps clicking across the tiles in her direction. Turning, she saw a rather pleased looking Kyouko brandishing two boxes of the aforementioned Deluxe Pocky in her hands like they were spoils of war. Raising an eyebrow, the shield user simply stared as her friend grinned triumphantly and showed the snacks to her.

"Hey hey, let's get these too!"

Homura crossed her arms and leaned back against the railing of the vegetable aisle. "Can you give me a genuinely good reason why I should buy those?"

The redhead seemed positively stumped by the inquiry, taking a moment to stare down at the oversized card board boxes in her hands. "Uh…well, I mean come on, Homu-chan. It's _deluxe_ pocky. I could chew on this shit for hours!"

"Save up for a box of cigars instead," Homura retorted blandly.

Kyouko simply smirked and wagged a finger at her slightly younger girl. "Now, Homura, you know cigars are bad for your health. Chewing on those could make it awfully hard to fight demons."

"Oh, so you've finally learned to keep that in mind?"

"I have indeed," The redhead followed up with completely unwarranted pride, still wearing that same smirk. Homura really didn't know if she loved or hated that expression of hers. It was odd; she hadn't been on the fence about it before. "So don't you think I should be rewarded for my accomplishments?"

The shield user took one last moment to drill holes with her eyes into the boxes of Pocky, then looked back up at her friend's ridiculously eager face before finally letting her taut shoulders sag in defeat. "Fine. But one of them's mine."

Cheering a little too loudly, Kyouko walked over and dropped the snacks into the items already occupying the cart. Rolling her eyes in exasperation, Homura took control of the handle and began pushing the cart through the thin crowds of people, searching for the next thing to pick up. The redhead simply followed her, apparently appeased enough not to cause a ruckus for now, hands linked together behind her back as she wore an amused smile on her face.

"What's so funny?" Homura tossed over her back, not sounding particularly interested in the answer but asking the question anyways. Stopping for a moment, she began examining a pile of apples, picking out the ripest ones.

Kyouko just laughed at her. She was always laughing at her. Another thing on which Homura was unsure how she felt. "Nothing. I was just thinking you're a lot softer than you seem."

The raven haired girl couldn't suppress a small smile as she turned one of the crimson fruits around in her hands. "Most people are."

The redhead shrugged indifferently. "I know. But I think it's funniest in your case. Don't pick that one," The older girl added suddenly, darting forward and smacking an apple Homura had been considering out of her hands. "It's ripe now, but it'll spoil soon. Unless you're planning to eat it now, I'd say you pick another one."

"Ho ho," Homura gasped lowly in mock surprise as she reached for another candidate. "So you're actually useful for this kind of thing. I never would have thought you knew how to pick fruits. Or is it only with apples?"

Kyouko turned this over in her head as her friend returned to her fruit browsing, totally missing the sarcastic element. "Eh…yeah, apples mostly. But I'm pretty good with pears, too. I eat those a lot. Oh, and oranges."

"And Pocky too, I'd imagine," Homura sighed.

Kyouko raised a genuinely confused eyebrow. "The hell are you talking about? Pocky's are snacks. They don't ripen."

"Neither does your wit, apparently."

"Huh?"

* * *

><p>The world outside was like a rough sketch.<p>

The days had slipped by since that night, since Kiku Hanezawa had sacrificed her life for another. Homura had done her best not to let the issue pervade her mind too thoroughly, instead trying to occupy herself with more immediate topics. She didn't know why, but picturing the surreal image she had witnessed bothered her a little too much. So she instead busied herself with tending to Kyouko's injuries, feeling strangely bent on making sure the girl made a full recovery.

Thankfully enough, she did. Despite the redhead's natural physical potency as a magical girl, Homura had still worried about the extent of her injuries. Ten days after receiving the wounds however, the older girl was jumping around the house like a jackrabbit. Homura had always known the girl was hyper already, but having been confined to a bed and only brief walks down the hall for the bathroom for over a week, Kyouko was ready to expel some pent up energy. Homura had simply smiled as she watched the redhead scamper all over the house, taking the liberty of rummaging through the pantry for some more Pocky, surprisingly not very irritated by such behavior. In the time she had spent taking care of Kyouko, she had learned to be more tolerant of the girl.

It had been a rather dull time. There wasn't much else for the two of them to do other than sit in silence as Homura changed Kyouko's bandages, save the occasional progress check. But they had talked a lot too, mostly just to stave off the boredom, of anything that could possibly come to mind. It had been uncomfortable to her at first, as she wasn't very accustomed to maintaining conversations which weren't absolutely necessary, not to mention that she didn't know the redhead very well at all. But then Homura would remember their promise. They had both decided to gather up reasons to fight for each other. Despite her lack of perception when it came to social interaction, Homura was apt enough to realize that this was a proposition for a proper friendship. So she had stayed and talked.

Surprisingly enough, the effort bore fruit quickly, although it was not without roadblocks. Homura had trouble adjusting to Kyouko's natural (and frequent) usage of swear words, not to mention that most of their initial conversations centered around the topic of food. But they had soon moved on to more mutual topics, and her brain eventually adapted to accept the excess applications of words like "fuck" and whatnot. As a result, they grew considerably more comfortable with each other's presence, learning things about each other they hadn't even bothered to think about before. This progressed to the point that Homura realized, with some horror, that she actually _liked_ talking to Kyouko.

Not that she would ever admit that to her.

Yet the rough sketch beyond the walls of her home had to solidify at some point, and once Kyouko had recovered from her injuries Homura was forced to acknowledge the colors which were bleeding back into the world. She couldn't ignore what demanded her attention any longer. She had pushed it to the back of her mind, suppressed it in favor of more indulgent thoughts. Something that the girl was surprised to find herself guilty of, as she had always prided herself on being able to face the inevitable. Since when had she become one to hide from ugly thoughts? Ever since falling asleep beside Kyouko's bandaged form that night, she had been like this. Not a single memory of that night had crossed her mind, until now, for very specific reasons.

It was time to visit Mami Tomoe.

"Is it really that cold out?" Kyouko grunted by the front door, when she saw her friend emerge from the hall wrapped up in a coat and thick scarf.

"Yes," Homura replied absently as she approached the doormat, her voice slightly muffled by the fuzz enveloping her neck and chin. Pausing a moment to slip into her shoes, the raven haired girl looked back up and scanned the redhead's flimsy looking attire. "You're going to be freezing in those."

It had snowed the previous night. Not exactly a blizzard, just a light dusting to provide only the excitement of winter and not its actual merits. There was barely enough snowfall to obscure the sidewalk, really, but it had brought with it a biting cold that Homura hadn't felt in months; the time loops had taken place during the height of autumn. It felt ironic to her in hindsight, that the day she chose to do something that made her uncomfortable the weather also chose to become uncomfortable.

The redhead just shrugged, looking down at the pair of shorts she was sporting. "It's nothing. I spent a hell of a lot of cold nights out on the street, and now I'm like a walrus. My skin's all thick."

Homura just absorbed her words and sighed, turning around to pull another scarf off of a nearby rack. "So is your head, unfortunately," She murmured as she unravelled the winter wear and stepped closer to her friend.

Kyouko frowned as she stared down at the pale wool of the scarf. "I'm telling you, it's fine. If anything, my smoking hot looks will probably set that thing on fire," She added with a smirk.

"All of my clothes are fire retardant," The shield user replied blandly as she reached up and began to wind the scarf around the redhead's neck. The girl was a few inches taller than her, and she was forced to stretch. Kyouko fell silent at Homura's lifeless response and instead stood very still, making sure not to move as the raven haired girl continued to wrap the scarf about her. Homura didn't contest the silence, not even bothering to look the older girl in the eye as she stood on her tiptoes.

"Hey," Kyouko said softly, "You good?"

The girl's delicate fingers slowed around the redhead's neck before finally stopping when the scarf ran out of length, resting gingerly on the hems of the material. Kyouko looked down but couldn't see anything but a swath of midnight hair, as its owner was staring down at their feet. There was a dull flash of light, and Kyouko thought the shorter girl was showing her teeth.

"I don't know," Homura answered at last, slowly. Fearfully. "Am I?"

The spear wielder frowned and reached up to her scarf, brushing the fingers that were already resting there. "You just seem…kinda worried about something."

Homura raised her head a fraction, so that she was staring at the redhead's collarbone instead of the ground. "I suppose you could call it worry. Or apprehension. Maybe a bit of both. Tomoe-san and I didn't exactly depart on good terms."

Kyouko blinked. "Well, you guys never really got along anyways. And she did try to throw herself under the bus for us. It was a stupid choice, and I'm probably going to beat the shit out of her when we see her again, but it's the thought that counts, right?"

But the younger girl could only shake her head in silence. What was wrong with her? There were words burgeoning within her chest, fighting like mad for their right to be spoken aloud and expressed, but she couldn't seem to find it within herself to speak them. Yes, it was indeed the thought that counted, yet not in a positive sense, but one where Homura had found herself to be inferior. Her mind had held them back until now, but ever since she had stepped onto the doormat the dark thoughts which had come out of watching Kiku's sacrifice were swirling back.

Mami had had to will to sacrifice herself, whether it be out of selfishness or genuine compassion. She herself had not. Which one of them was the fool? Was Tomoe simply blind in her naive pursuit of righteousness, or was she herself weak for not being able to give up her own life? It disturbed her to know that in a different time, under different circumstances, she very well could have made the choice to die by Mami's side simply for the sake of necessity. As they had both stood under Kyouko's shield, warring verbally, they had each been trying to protect something. The only difference was that Homura had chosen to run.

_I'm bothered by the fact that I ran,_ She realized. _That's not what I would have done before. What changed that?_

_Have I become weak?_

A slight weight on her head. Looking up, Homura saw that Kyouko had lifted her arm and rested an hand on her hair, not moving but simply keeping it there, an slightly embarrassed expression on the redhead's face.

"If you're worried that I blame you for picking me up and booking it that night, don't," She said simply.

Homura didn't respond, instead blinking at the girl's crimson irises, which she now realized were startlingly close to her own. She hadn't known it while her head was buried into the redhead's scarf, but the two of them were standing near enough to each other the feel the other's breathing, Kyouko's back pressed gently against the wall as Homura leaned partially into the older girl's front. With the hand on her head and the way she was balling her fists against the redhead's chest, along with the fact that they were standing essentially flush to each other, Homura's heart abruptly began to hammer. This wasn't the same panic which ensued due to her discomfort with skin to skin contact; no, this was something entirely different, a knotted feeling starting from the very depths of her gut, allowing nothing through but the wholly terrifying urge to lower her arms and pull Kyouko even closer, thus strengthening their embrace. It was a totally foreign feeling, this strange need to get _closer_, and it made her feel fragile and confused.

The same weakness that she had felt that night.

Acting suddenly on reflex, Homura forced her arms between them and pushed back, creating some space to breathe in. Kyouko, caught off guard by the sudden repulsion, just stood with her back to the wall, rubbing her chest irritably. "Hey, what the hell was that for?" She complained, eyes demanding an explanation.

But Homura just tightened her scarf around her neck and muttered, "Nevermind. Keep your scarf on," Before unlocking the door and slipping out, into the rough sketch beyond.

* * *

><p>The later train ride was awkward. It was yet another new experience to her, seeing as Homura almost always took the train alone. The constant clacking of the tracks and the general rumble of the wheels could be perceived as comforting to a sole individual, but it only served to create tension when with another.<p>

Kyouko didn't handle unreleased tension very well.

_What was all that about?_ She grumbled internally. They were both sitting on a train bound for western district of Mitakihara, headed for the hospital where Mami was being held. It had taken almost two weeks, but the staff and law enforcement around the area had finally announced the facility open for public visitation.

Pursing her lips, the redhead reached up and ghosted her fingers over the spot where Homura had shoved her. She didn't know if it really meant anything, but the raven haired girl had seized up suddenly before moving. Had she done something rash or insensitive? She didn't think so. Kyouko was tempted to simply shrug and chalk it all up to Homura just being Homura, but something in her gut told her she shouldn't. There was something different about the girl today, but she couldn't exactly place it. Kyouko wondered if it had something to do with seeing Mami again.

Peeking out of the corner of her eye, she saw Homura sitting beside her on the plastic seat, but maintaining a certain distance between them. She was sitting quietly too, the air around both of them frigid, the shorter girl's face emotionless, but Kyouko could somehow tell she was fighting with herself about something behind that stoic mask. The redhead would have been more than willing to forget about what had happened in front of the door had Homura simply interacted her normally, but instead she was forcing this…awkwardness.

_She can get so pissy sometimes,_ She decided. _But it's still been a long time since I've seen her like this. _Not since the last time they had separated as a group. That memory was still fresh enough in her mind for Kyouko to remember the sensation of the arrow piercing her Soul Gem, and the current situation reminded her eerily of that. In the brief moments where Kyouko had managed to see Homura's true nature, she had managed to deduce that there were two sides to the girl: the one that was honest and the one that wasn't. Even during the death of Sayaka, after which Homura had entered an extremely isolated state, Kyouko had wanted to throttle the girl for her foolishness and scream at her to stop lying to them.

A cruel strategist was what Homura Akemi could be, but it wasn't who she really was.

* * *

><p>It was so cold out that she could have powered a train with her breath.<p>

Mitakihara General was looming before her, in all its broken glory. The building still bore obvious evidence of the damage it had taken weeks before, with wooden planks and makeshift transparent steel windows serving to patch the immediately unreachable breaches. All the windows across two windows had been blown out. From here, she could see dozens of construction workers crawling all over the structure, a crane sitting dormant behind it, and what Homura knew were shaken patients sitting behind those concrete walls. It struck her then that intelligence still did not know what had caused the "mysterious explosions" which had damaged the hospital so severely. The closest the worlds of magic and humanity could get was confusion.

"Well? What are we waiting for?" Kyouko growled beside her, passing the shield user and heading up to the hospital's entrance. Homura watched the redhead's back for a moment before walking after her. She was probably upset because of earlier. Homura couldn't exactly blame her. She didn't understand why she had done that herself.

A few moments later, they entered the hospital.

It was eerily quiet inside. The waiting lobby which the front entrance opened into was almost devoid of people. It confused Homura for a moment, as she had expected more wounded to be present after what had transpired, then remembered that there hadn't been many potential casualties within the area. In fact, there had probably only been no more than two.

They were here to see the second.

Taking one last look around the empty lobby, the raven haired girl squared her shoulders before heading for the receptionist's desk, heel clicking coldly against the sparkling tiled floors. It felt dark inside the hospital even though it was the height of noon outside. Finally reaching the desk, Homura looked over its edge and murmured, "Excuse me."

A frazzled looking woman lifted her head and stared up at her. "Yes?"

"We're here to visit someone. Mami Tomoe."

The woman behind the counter nodded tiredly and began tapping away at her desktop. "Sure. Odd that we've got visitors at such a time. People haven't been coming as often as they usually do."

"And why is that?"

She simply shrugged. "I don't know. They say this whole place makes them depressed, for some reason. Like there's a bad fog around here or something. The patients aren't doing so well emotionally, either. Must be the weather."

"Yeah," Kyouko muttered behind them. "The weather."

The receptionist ignored the redhead and slid two visitor's cards across the counter. "Here you go. You can have as much time as you like. Lord knows that girl needs somebody right now."

"Thank you," Homura said as she took the cards and stuffed them into her breast pocket.

The dimly lit halls were winding and long. Why was a hospital so intricate? The two of them passed a few employees on the staff as they wandered through the halls, but they all seemed to be dong nothing much of anything. Staring down at the cards they had received, the shield user looked up and saw that they had arrived at their destination. Room number 666. How fitting.

"So this is it?" Kyouko asked, stopping abruptly and letting her boots squeak harshly against the clean floor. She wasn't eating something for once, an observation which Homura found to be oddly disturbing.

"Yes," Was all she could say. What was wrong with her? Her hands were sweating. Just what was she so afraid of? Even if she acknowledged that seeing Kiku's death had rattled her, it didn't warrant such a strong reaction from her. There was something deeper driving her fear. With a sudden rush of blood, she understood what it was. She was afraid to face Mami and see a reflection of herself.

"You know, I'm not that sure how I'm going to react when I see her again," Kyouko suddenly admitted. The redhead had her hands stuffed in her pockets. "I guess I'm worried about her. But she pretty much fucked us both over too, and I don't know if I can forgive that. Not to mention that she's probably…a little loose in the head after all that's happened."

Surprising even herself, Homura managed a sick looking smile. "Tomoe is nothing if not stubborn."

The older girl laughed at that, but it was a high strung, nervous laugh. "Yeah. You're right."

They were both plunged into silence then, giving testament to the uncertainty of their current position. Homura didn't know what she would open the door to. Was it friend or foe? A strong warrior or a broken spirit? Part of her wanted to let go of the frigid doorknob and turn away, run back down the hall and return to the ignorant life she had been leading for the past two weeks. But the rest of her knew that wasn't possible, not when she lived in a world where everything hunted her down relentlessly until they either succeeded or were killed.

Whether it threw her into greater confusion or not, Homura had to face this.

Twisting the knob, she pushed the door open.

* * *

><p>There was a fleeting darkness inside.<p>

The blinds were only half open, allowing a broken light to shine through from the cold glow outside. It cast ominous shadows across the floor and walls, leaping demons and vindicating silhouettes to act as sentinels of despair. The ethereal guards patrolled the room, protecting in their silence the singular bed sitting against the far wall, under the rays of light coming inside as if to avoid them.

Mami Tomoe occupied said bed, not laying in it but sitting up, propped against the plastered wall with her arm and cheek resting on the windowsill. Her traditional ringlets were gone, the long strands of hair instead let loose to flow freely down the girl's hunched. Homura frowned when she looked how dull the Mami's normally golden locks looked. Had she not been taking care of herself?

It was totally silent when they entered, and it continued to be so as Kyouko let go of the door and it closed with a dull thud that sounded louder than it really was.

The blonde didn't physically react at the noise, but Homura saw her eyes dart towards them for a moment. Kyouko left the door where it was and took a few steps forward before abruptly stopping, stuck in the awkward space between Homura's position at one end of the room and Mami's at the other. The redhead swiveled her head from side to side, eyes swapping between both girls, midnight and sunrise, before finally sighing and staying where she was.

Mami continued to keep her silence, but at least she wasn't disregarding their presence anymore, as she stared coldly at them with head still leaning against the wall.

"Hey, Mami. Finally lost those ridiculous ringlets, I see," Kyouko tried lamely, crossing her arms and cracking a weak smile.

The blonde's lips twitched, not a prequel to a smile but the foreshadowing of a frown. She then blinked and looked away again, fixing her eyes on the length of her arm, the only part of her body making contact with the weak winter sunlight.

"Look, are you seriously going to ignore us?" The redhead asked this time, dropping her arms to her side and letting the irritation creep into her voice.

Mami said nothing.

Kyouko furrowed her eyebrows. "We came all this way to see you," She muttered. "We could have come earlier, but we wanted to give you time to recover...come on, Mami. You can't mope around like this forever."

When the older girl still didn't respond, didn't even twitch a finger, Homura sighed heavily and decided it was time for her to intervene. "I understand that you need time to mourn, Tomoe," She said softly. "There's nothing wrong with missing a friend...but it's been two weeks. Don't you think it's time to move on?"

It was entirely out of character for her to say something that suggested she particularly cared for the blonde, and she knew that Mami knew it. But anything if it got the girl talking.

It worked. With a sigh, Mami muttered, "Since when do you care?"

_"_I don't," Homura replied honestly, dropping all pretenses. "But this is bigger than you or me. You know that. This city can't have you mulling among your thoughts in this poorly lit room for eternity."

She also wanted to say that Kyouko couldn't have that either, but she wasn't about to say that in front of the redhead. The girl had been busy assuring Homura earlier, but the time traveler knew that Kyouko was even more worried about Mami than anyone else. It made sense. The two were longtime friends who had had each other's backs for years, until now. Homura couldn't understand how anyone could come to care for such an irritating person like Mami, but if it was for Kyouko, she would contribute where possible.

The blonde didn't reply for a long time, instead going back to staring out the window, apparently peeking past the blinds at the white landscape beyond. "Why not?" She said quietly, almost too quietly to hear. "I like the view from this window, and it's more than enough for me. In here, I can't lose things, and even if I do, it's a small room. They'll turn up eventually. Out there..." She gestured vaguely with her fingers, a small movement that cast massive shadows. "Out there, it's too much space. Too many places to lose things. I don't want that anymore."

"You're always going to lose things," Kyouko replied softly, crossing the distance between herself and the bed until her knees were resting against the side of the mattress. "You know that better than anyone, Mami. But it doesn't mean you can just hide and be selfish. You were the one who taught me that."

"And besides, you have your responsibilities," Homura interjected, hoping to add a path of logic to convince the blonde. "Kyouko and I are keeping things on track for now, but two puella magi aren't enough to cover all of Mitakihara. We _need_ three. We need you, as much as it irritates me to admit it. Things are going to be difficult without you around, Tomoe."

Privately, Homura thought that this was a good route to take. By presenting Mami with a strong sense of purpose, perhaps she could be convinced to rise out of her depression. Such things had always enticed the girl quite effectively in the past, after all. And besides, she wasn't at all lying. Two girls couldn't hold down the fort forever, no matter how hard they tried.

"That's...that's right!" Kyouko pitched in desperately, dropping her fist in her open palm. "Come on, Mami. We can't get by without you. You're tea's gonna go bad too if you don't check on it soon, right? You're important to us!"

"Well, you'll have to do without me, because I will never kill another demon in my lifetime," Mami replied bitterly.

There was a moment of perpetual silence as the other two girls absorbed her words.

"...What? What are you talking about? Homura, what is she talking about?" Kyouko asked, taking a step back.

Homura narrowed her eyes, a terribly uneasy feeling rising in her chest. "Care to elaborate?"

"None of this would ever have happened if I wasn't a magical girl," Mami seethed silently, still not looking at them as she hid her face behind her hair. "I never would have needed to be friends with her. And wouldn't have had to watch her die. I wouldn't have to worry about nightmares and demons in the night. I...I can't do it anymore. I quit."

Shadows leapt off the walls, more prominent than ever. Forming a wall, blocking Mami off from them, stronger than anything. Homura knew that they were losing ground too quickly to make up for it and bared her teeth, knowing at last that they had lost this battle before it had even started.

"_Quit_?" Kyouko gasped. "You can't just quit. What about your Soul Gem? What about _us_?"

Mami smiled sickly, eyes drooping halfway closed as if she were already exhausted. In fact, she might have been. She looked like a beaten horse. "I talked with Kyubey about it. That damned rat, it didn't want to tell me, but I wrestled it out of him eventually. As long as I don't expend any more magic, I'll be fine for a long while.

"As for the two of you..." At last, she looked at them, but it gave them nothing. Her eyes were empty and devoid of feeling. "That is no longer my problem."

Homura breathed in sharply as Kyouko staggered back a step, as if struck. She had expected it to be difficult to sway Mami's opinion, but this...this was far worse than any of them had anticipated. How were they supposed to convince someone to enter a world they had just decided to leave behind forever?

The answer was that they couldn't, at least not yet. Anything else they said now would only antagonize Mami further, and she didn't want that for a variety of reasons. Now her top priority was getting Kyouko out of here before she got hurt, because it was rather obvious that the redhead was struggling with what she had just heard. Homura supposed that if she had actually cared for the blonde, she might feel the same.

"But you can't just _quit_," Kyouko growled, anger rising up to polarize her confusion and hurt in an ugly display of balance. "It goes against everything you believe in. Don't be stupid, Mami! That isn't what you really want, is it?"

But the blonde just sighed, as if the harsh words being thrown at her ears weren't something to be reckoned with. "Go home, Sakura-san. There's nothing left for you here."

_Sakura-san._ Said so cooly, as if to mark the newfound unfamiliarity between them. The girl in question bared her teeth and reached forward as if to grab the girl and shake her into listening to her, but suddenly stopped, as if blocked by a wall. Her arm dropped back to her side, and she glared hideously at the cold tiles on the floor, as if some sort of answer resided inside of them.

"I'll come back," She ground out, clenching her fists. "I'll come again. I'm not just going to leave you like this."

"Don't even bother," Mami murmured, eyes closed now. "I won't be accepting visitors."

Kyouko tried to find something to say back, anything, to curb the tide, but even she knew that it would have been useless. So she simply stood there, as if waiting for something to come and turn the tables in her favor. Homura stood by the door still, wanting to go to the girl but unsure of what she would say when she did, broken as she seemed to be.

Mami reopened her eyes and glanced at the redhead a final time, her irises filled with nothing but contempt. "Go home, Sakura. This is where we part ways. I would wish you well, but it wouldn't be genuine. I'm sorry to have taken up your time."

The redhead didn't move even after that, but Homura saw her shoulders shaking. Feeling a particular hatred towards Mami at that moment, the raven haired girl approached Kyouko and placed a steadying hand on her arm.

"Come on," She whispered. "There's nothing we can do."

"Yes, listen to the girl," Mami agreed tiredly. "It'll save you some trouble, won't it?"

Before Homura could snap back something scathing towards the girl, Kyouko threw her arm off her own and ran out of the room, kicking the door nearly off its hinges as her footsteps receded rapidly down the hall. Staggering momentarily at the sudden move, Homura could only turn and stare at the open space the door had left behind, knowing that she would never be able to catch up to the redhead and bring her back.

Not that she particularly wanted to.

Twisting on her heel, she regarded Mami one final time. The blonde eyed her uneasily, perhaps wondering if the time traveler was going to make her own attempt at convincing her. Homura had to resist the urge to sneer. At that very moment, she hated everything about Mami Tomoe. Before, the girl had had some use to them, but now even that was gone. Now there was only the broken husk of a person Homura had never been able to care for, despite her initial curiosity.

She supposed that was the difference to her between Mami and Kyouko.

"Do you truly intend to leave that life behind?" She finally asked, turning so that she faced the older girl fully.

There was a moment of brief internal struggle, as the blonde blinked at the directness of the question, and for a moment Homura wondered if she had actually managed to break through her defense.

Mami couldn't meet her eyes. "Of course."

Homura didn't react, only narrowed her eyes.

"What a disappointment."

And then she was gone too, walking out into the hall and putting distance between herself and the hospital room, eventually breaking out into a sprint; where Kyouko had gone, she needed to catch up before the girl got herself in trouble, like she always did.

That meant that no one was present to see the lone tear descend into the wrinkled sheets where Mami sat, curled up like a flower who had truly known fear.

* * *

><p><strong>Unless you're new to this story, you'll have noticed that the last part of this chapter was changed so that (surprise) Mami isn't insane anymore. Sure, she might seem a little loopy, but she isn't exactly crazy. Just super, super, <em>super<em> pissy.**

**If this is your first time here, ignore everything I just said.**

**I'm pretty much working on this and Blackbirds simultaneously.**

**I probably won't finish either of them. *cries***

**Anyways, new chapter soon (probably). When will I learn not to expect consistency from myself?**

**~Banshee**


	9. Frozen Promises

Chapter 9: Frozen Promises

Homura's footsteps rang all too loudly off the walls as she jogged lightly down the hall, heading in the general direction Kyouko had gone. It was as if the walls were taunting her with the sound of her own heels. _Look at her run,_ They seemed to say. _She doesn't even know what she's running for._

That much was true, she supposed. All she knew was that she was _incredibly_ angry with Mami Tomoe at the moment. She wondered why. Witnessing the blonde's incredibly folly wasn't exactly a new experience for her, so why was she getting angry now?

It took her another thirty yards of hallway to realize that she wasn't upset at Mami's absolute idiocy, she was upset because _Kyouko_ was upset at Mami's absolute idiocy. She actually was willing to get angry for someone else now. Oh, the emotional progress she had made.

Sarcastic self evaluation aside, she had to find Kyouko soon. Homura knew the redhead was prone to doing things without thinking them through when she was upset, so it was probably best to catch up to the girl before she broke into a supermarket, or worse, stole their entire store of Pocky. Not that she was afraid the redhead was going to get caught. It was a tad difficult to track down someone who could turn invisible and basically had no personal records. She just didn't know where she'd put a supermarket's worth of chocolate covered sticks.

Briefly realizing that her current train of thought was totally pointless, Homura sped up and circled further around the halls, trying to locate the top of a certain crimson head.

Another ten minutes of searching proved fruitless, and Homura stopped in the middle of an intersection between two hallways, wondering how she was supposed to find Kyouko within the massive confines of the hospital. Then she remembered the tired looking receptionist out front and made her way there, eventually emerging into the lobby she had been in about half an hour prior.

"Oh, hello," The receptionist murmured, looking as exhausted and dreary as ever. "Your friend was here a minute ago. Are you looking for her?"

Homura nodded in affirmation, and the woman pointed out the door.

"Went outside," She said. "She looked kind of upset. I know Mami Tomoe-san's in pretty bad shape right now. Is she going to be alright?"

"I..." Homura stopped to seriously consider the inquiry, even though she knew it was most likely rhetorical. "I don't know," She admitted. "Tomoe-san is important to her. But I _want_ her to be alright, regardless. If that makes any sense."

The receptionist smiled wanly, a small spark of life flickering in her eyes. "It makes perfect sense, young lady. I think you should go after her. She probably needs a shoulder to cry on, or something."

Now it was Homura's turn to smile. "Kyouko doesn't cry."

"Doesn't mean she doesn't want to. Now go."

* * *

><p>The world outside was covered in an ivory blanket.<p>

The courtyard sitting directly outside the front of Mitakihara General was empty at first glance, and when Homura looked around she noted that Kyouko wasn't here either. Jogging for the first few steps before slowing down to a walk, Homura stopped when her feet crunched on the now snow-covered stone steps leading up to the building. The wind blew and slipped past the defenses of her clothes, and she shivered, briefly remembering that Kyouko only had a scarf on in this freezing weather.

Looking up, Homura finally realized that it had resumed snowing from the previous night. The little white drops fell slowly from the warm gray sky and sprinkled occasionally on her nose, as if to tell her that it was still there, but didn't have to be minded. The ground was starting to become lost under the white, and the benches ringing the courtyard were starting to develop their own layer of frost. She paused, breathing in and out, taking in the surprising beauty of it. It had been a long time since her last snowfall.

Then the image of Kyouko with her head stuck in a snowdrift pervaded her mind, and she got back to searching.

Deciding to look around behind the hospital where the second courtyard was, Homura turned on her heel and headed there, boots crunching continuously on the snow, shivering occasionally despite her coat and long pants. If she wasn't already in the middle of doing something, she got cold rather easily.

As she walked, she wondered what kind of condition Kyouko would be in once she found her. The redhead had had a little time by now to calm down, but would it be enough? Homura didn't know how she was going to deal with an emotionally distraught Kyouko. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, she was not very good with people, partly because of her inherent shyness and partly because of the coldness she used to hide said shyness. Though to be truthful, she didn't expect for Kyouko too be completely devastated by what had taken place. That was another thing Homura liked about her. The girl never considered anything to be the end of the world.

Huffing and watching her breath billow out in front of her, she continued trekking through the ever thickening snowfall. Well, she'd have to find the damn redhead first for all of this speculation to be put to any actual use. She hoped Kyouko hadn't run off too far. She didn't really feel like running all the way to the supermarket to find her.

Luckily enough, she didn't have to. Upon turning the corner, Homura spotted Kyouko sitting at the end of the courtyard, occupying a bench under the protective limbs of a bare tree. The girl had her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them as she stared at absolutely nothing, while thinking about absolutely everything. She was like a drop of fire among the ivory landscape, and stuck out like a sore thumb.

Deciding it wouldn't be best to call out from this distance, Homura instead deigned to quietly cross over to where her friend was sitting. The girl didn't seem to notice her approaching through the thick veil of her thoughts, not even twitching a muscle as Homura came closer. Frowning, Homura made a wide arc until she was standing directly behind the redhead on the bench, staring down at her hunched form with a mixture of sympathy and amusement.

Looking up, she realized that Kyouko must have been out of it for a long time, because she was starting to develop a small pile of snow on top of her head.

Biting back a sudden urge to laugh, Homura reached out and abruptly smacked the mound of white crystals off Kyouko's skull.

"Son of a - what the hell was that for!" The redhead yelled when she twisted her head around to see Homura standing behind her with a twisted smirk on her face. As she spoke, what was left of the snow shifted down her neck and slid down the length of her back, making the girl flinch and shudder at the frigid contact.

"Cleaning you off," Homura replied nonchalantly.

"I..." The other girl began before trailing off into oblivion. "Oh," She settled with, looking back down and shaking the rest of the snow out of her top, still a bit too mentally preoccupied to start a proper argument about the ethics behind slapping things off of other people's heads.

Exhaling out of her nose, Homura circled the length of the bench before taking a seat beside the now shivering redhead, leaving a respectable distance between them. She didn't deign to say anything, and Kyouko was still thinking, so a silence quickly filled the gap between them, one that Homura was strangely content with. Despite the fact that Kyouko was probably hurting at the moment, there was something surreally _comfortable_ about sitting next to her and not having to say anything. Like they didn't expect a thing from each other.

It was a nice thought to have.

She decided that she wouldn't be to one to speak first, allowing her friend to take things at her own pace. She entertained herself by watching the snow thicken instead, violet eyes taking in the shimmering tufts of white building upon each other like a self conscious castle of glass.

It proved quite simple to wait the redhead out. Sighing, the spear wielder murmured, "Sorry for running all the way out here."

"It's okay. At least you didn't go all the way to the supermarket."

"What?"

"Nothing," Homura breezed as she folded her hands in her lap and closed her eyes, taking a moment to enjoy the coolness of the air. She certainly preferred winter over summer. "Are you feeling a little better?"

"No," Kyouko muttered as she drew her knees up again, heels clicking against the wood of the bench. "I still feel like running back in there and beating the shit out of her until she changes her mind. But I feel like that so often that it doesn't feel like anything special anymore."

"You must want to beat up a lot of people, then," Homura voiced blandly.

The redhead smirked. "Nah. Just two. You and Mami."

"I'm honored."

"Damn right you are."

They both snickered a bit at that. Or, to be honest, Kyouko did the snickering while Homura allowed herself a small, genuine smile. But she felt like that was okay too. People who laughed loudly at everything were probably faking it anyways.

Yet the moment of mirth was short lived when the memory of what had transpired just minutes ago returned to both of them, and they stopped laughing. Kyouko bit her lip and went back to staring at her toes.

"Do you think she really meant what she said?" The girl suddenly asked.

Homura considered how she was going to respond to the inquiry. She could give her honest opinion and say that no, she didn't think that Mami was ever going to snap out of whatever funk she was now in. Or she could be overly positive for Kyouko's sake and assure her that everything would be alright, that Mami would mentally recover in no time, and they'd be back to hunting demons every night before they knew it.

Inwardly, the time traveler had to sigh. Kyouko was an airhead, certainly, but she was never going to fall to a bullshit assurance like that. Still, Mami was important to her, and she didn't want to come off as too uncaring, despite her true feelings.

Finally, she settled with a bridge between the two and said, "I can't say. I don't know her as well as you do. Do you think she did?"

Privately, she thought that she was becoming too soft if she was actually holding her tongue in check for once.

"I don't know," Kyouko responded miserably, resting her nose in the valley of her knees. "You might not know this, but when she wants to be, Mami's a seriously good liar. I'm not trying to convince you that she was just saying things to get us away from her, because I'm not privy to that kind of wishful thinking. But what if it really was all a lie? What if she really just wants to come back to us but is too afraid? What if I don't _have_ to lose her? I don't know. And it fucking sucks that I don't know."

Homura was a bit surprised at the outburst. She wasn't used to being the one to counsel the redhead's feelings; that was actually usually Mami's job, but that wasn't the case anymore for obvious reasons.

"Are...you afraid to lose her?" She finally asked, not knowing what else she was supposed to say.

The redhead smiled, but there was no mirth behind it like the last time. "Of course I am. It's so easy to lose things, being what we are. Mami was right about that, at least. Hell, maybe I'm just being selfish. Maybe it is best for her to hide from the world. Either way, I know that for now, things aren't going to be the same between us. I mean, she kind of broke up with me, in a friendship kind of way," She added with a strained laugh.

"And how do you feel about that?" Homura asked softly.

Kyouko closed her eyes and gripped her knees. "Like I've got a big goddam hole in my chest."

Homura didn't respond immediately, instead rolling those words around in her head. Had she heard this from anyone else, she would have assumed Kyouko was romantically involved with Tomoe, but she of course knew that this was far from true. In every timeline including this one, their bond had never crossed the firm boundaries of friendship, and she doubted it would in the future, barring extraordinary circumstances. Still, it stung her a little bit to hear Kyouko lament Mami's scorn so passionately. She'd never seen the redhead get this upset about something before. But why did it matter to her? Was she jealous?

She dismissed the thought almost immediately. There was no way she was going to feel something so petty over Mami Tomoe, of all people. But still...there was a sense of begrudging in her chest, as if she had somehow lost to the blonde sitting in the hospital not a hundred yards from them.

Then, looking at Kyouko, Homura briefly wondered why she couldn't be as important to Kyouko as Mami was. Then a second, much more dangerous, thought entered her mind.

Why couldn't she be?

At that moment, Kyouko shivered violently and rubbed at her bare legs, which were exposed by her shorts. "God, it's cold," She muttered quietly to herself.

Homura didn't know what drove her next action, but before she could pause to reconsider it she had unzipped the front of her coat and was holding the right side wide open, exposing her side to the frigid air and shivering when it made contact.

Kyouko noticed the development and seemed utterly confused by it, staring at the open coat as if it were an alien from outer space, not that she was that unaccustomed to seeing those. Homura, realizing that she had failed to make her intent clear enough, felt a sudden blush rise up to dominate her face.

"You're cold. It's warm. Um. In here," The raven haired girl stammered out in ways of an explanation.

"Oh," Kyouko replied dumbly. Homura noticed the mass of goosebumps covering the redhead's arms and legs and was glad to see that her offer at least wasn't entirely out of left field. "Um, I appreciate the thought, but I-"

A particularly cold wind blew through the courtyard at that moment, slipping between their hair and dragging at their clothes. Kyouko cried out when it snatched her loosely tied scarf from her neck and sent it flying, where it eventually landed within the confines of a tree's branches, high above them.

There was a moment of literally frigid silence as the two of them stared at the scarf fluttering steadily from the tail end of a branch, as if to taunt them.

"Okay," Kyouko sighed. "Scoot over. I'm not climbing up to get that back."

"I spent a thousand yen on that scarf," Homura glowered as Kyouko got up and closed the distance between them on the bench.

"Oh, shut up, you cheap hag," The redhead muttered as she sat down and pulled her half of the coat around them, and suddenly she was much closer, _too_ close, so close that it was making Homura's heart spike. This in itself was hard enough to deal with, but Kyouko made things more difficult like she always did by burying her nose into the crook between Homura's neck and shoulder.

The time traveler breathed in sharply. "Kyou-"

"Just...give me a second," The redhead whispered, her voice like another winter wind against the girl's neck. "Or a minute. Or an hour. Or a year. I don't know. Just let me stay like this, just for a little while...then I'll be okay."

Homura, currently incapable of finding a good reason to refuse the girl besides "you're going to give me a heart attack for reasons I cannot explain", decided the best thing she could do was keep completely still and let her friend finish her business. Which was doubly difficult once she noticed how _good_ Kyouko smelled. The girl's scent appealed to her almost too much. Then she realized that it was because Kyouko had been using her soap for the past few days. The idea that she had sort of picked Kyouko's aroma to match her preferences sent an incomprehensible thrill through her spine. What was wrong with her? It was the same weakness she had felt earlier that day, but the more she experienced it, the less she hated it...

"Goddammit," The redhead beside her suddenly murmured softly. "It _is_ warm."

An involuntary smile. "Is that a bad thing?"

"I don't know. False sense of security."

Homura's smile took an a slightly melancholy tinge as she shifted to allow more of the coat to reach Kyouko's side. "Sometimes you need that, after you lose someone."

"Speaking from experience?"

A deeper tinge. "Maybe."

She thought about what Kyouko had said, about having a hole in her chest. She wondered what it would take to fill that hole, now that the one who had left that gap was essentially gone from their lives. It occurred to her that, just perhaps, she was the only one left who was even remotely capable of doing such a thing. But was she enough? Could she actually become that important to someone?

Did she even want to?

It then occurred to her that yes, of course, she wanted to be. It was odd, and not something she had sought after in the past, but as things stood now, she wanted to become important to Sakura Kyouko.

Looking down, Homura was shocked to discover that the girl in question was fast asleep on her shoulder, chest rising and falling steadily in accordance with the snowflakes descending around them. She looked so wholly peaceful that Homura caught herself staring, and averted her gaze with a slight flush. This girl was going to be the source of many more problems for her in the future, she was sure of it.

Yet strangely enough, she didn't mind.

Sighing, she slipped up and off the bench, catching Kyouko's slumbering form before it fell. Then she picked the girl up in both arms, hefting her gently to secure her grip. She was surprisingly light. Homura took a moment to stare down at the girl's face, trying to understand just what it was she wanted to have with her. Well, for now it was probably best to set realistic goals.

Bending her neck slightly, she murmured, "One day I'll fill that hole of yours," Before turning and striding off through the ever thickening snow.

* * *

><p>That day was the beginning of a perpetual winter.<p>

It was a rare year among the global warming trend, according to meteorologists, as Japan soon underwent its coldest winter in the last decade. It was hard to believe the predictions at first, but after they were a month into a winter and the snow had hardly stopped falling, people were convinced. Homura certainly didn't mind; she preferred the cold, honestly.

She hoped that Kyouko did too, because the girl probably had enough on her plate already.

Homura knew that the redhead was most likely faking her slumber during the entire trip home, but she wasn't cruel enough to call her on it and make Kyouko face the harsh reality beyond her eyelids. Everyone needed time to hide from the world, even Kyouko. Even Mami, though in her case it was a permanent seclusion.

So the train ride home was completely silent, filled only by the steady clicking of the wheels and the whispering wind outside. Once they arrived back in her neighborhood, she carried Kyouko all the way back to her house without complaint. It wasn't physically taxing anyways; all magical girls were capable of at least that much heavy lifting. Still, she knew that it was unlike her to be so accommodating of another person.

Gently pushing open the door to her home and stepping into the hall, she shut the chilly white world behind her and set Kyouko down on the couch. After another moment of searching, she found a thick blanket and draped it over the girl's sleeping form, even taking the time to tuck her in somewhat.

Then she left her, striding slowly into the adjacent kitchen and pulling the refrigerator open. Reaching deep inside, Homura pushed aside a few strategically placed cartons of food and condiments to reveal the small, modest cake sitting at the back of the frigid chamber. Extracting it carefully, she set it on the island before shutting the refrigerator closed again and taking the cake with her, up the stairs.

As her stockinged feet tapped lightly on the aging wooden steps, Homura briefly thought that Kyouko had never see the second floor of her home before. In truth, the second story only consisted of a puny space that Homura called her room. Still, it was the last place in the house that the redhead had yet to poke her nose into, and the only spot where she would have any semblance of privacy. And privacy was something she needed, at the moment.

Suddenly, she shivered as a draft seeped through the walls. It really was unnaturally cold this year, and it was barely October. She considered turning on the heater but decided against it, thinking that she wasn't so desperate as to strain her already depleted personal finances.

In the darkness of the unlit stairwell, she sensed a solid wall in front of her and knew she had reached the end of the staircase. Reaching out, she grasped the brass doorknob and twisted it, pushing to reveal the small space beyond, where she slept every night. Slipping past the newly created opening and shutting the door behind her, Homura took a moment to contemplate her surroundings.

It was a fairly simple room, almost Spartan in nature. After all, she completed most of her daily activities downstairs, and really only used this space for sleeping. A small twin bed dominated the center of the floor, with a diminutive dresser by its side; Homura was not the owner of a particularly large selection of clothing. The room was dimly lit, mostly illuminated by the cold sun filtering in through a large window that took up most of the leftmost wall.

Striding over to the window, Homura set her cake down on the sill before unlatching the lock and hefting the pane open. The frame's old supports creaked under the undue strain as she forced it open all the way, squinting when a blast of cold air rose up to greet her. Tucking a stray windblown strand of hair behind her ear, Homura pulled up a chair and took a seat beside the open window.

She took a moment to survey the view stretching out below her. Homura didn't consider herself to much of a romantic, but even to her eyes, Mitakihara City looked beautiful in the grip of winter. The tall, arcing skyscrapers and the glistening spires dotting the horizon were all wreathed in a veil of white, as if the world were some sort of arctic paradise. It was bright, too; the sun, though weak, shone off the ice crystals blanketing the streets, in stark contrast to the relative darkness of Homura's own room.

It made her wonder if she was peeking into a different world, or if the world was peeking into hers. Either way, it was a fitting setting for what she was about to do.

Reaching over, she plucked the small box up in her hands and deftly undid the cardboard container. Pushing open the flimsy flap holding the entire contraption closed, Homura pulled out a fist sized slice of cake and set it carefully on the window sill, making sure that it wouldn't tip over and fall into the metropolitan iceland below. Then she dug around in her pockets and produced a small lighter, which she used to light the small candle sitting squarely in the middle of the cake slice. The flame flared to life almost immediately, is if it were waiting for her.

Setting the lighter down, Homura turned to check the calendar, lest she be mistaken. Her eyes told her she wasn't. It was October 3rd, Madoka's birthday. Of course she wouldn't forget, but it was still best to be sure.

Turning back to face the window, the raven haired girl cupped her hand around the candle before murmuring, "Happy birthday, Madoka."

Then she blew out the candle, so gently that it almost flickered back to life again, but any remaining embers were stolen by the October cold.

There wasn't much left to do afterwards, as Homura sat with her knees propped up on the edge of the chair, staring solemnly out at the city below her. She hadn't really planned anything beyond this. It was Madoka's first birthday since her departure, so there wasn't any sort of procedure. The idea of singing the happy birthday song flitted through Homura's mind but she dismissed it; it seemed impractical and she doubted it would make a difference. Madoka wouldn't have concerned herself with frivolous details like that.

Of course, there was still the issue concerning what she was going to do with the cake. Homura stared at the cream covered treat for a few moments before deciding that she shouldn't let it go to waste. Picking up the plate, she found a fork and began slowly picking at the slice. She closed her eyes when the first piece passed her lips. Sweet. She would have loved it.

As she chewed, Homura continued observing the horizon. She wondered where the goddess was, out there in the world. Was she watching them all at this precise moment, or was she busy with something else? Was that even an issue for an omnipotent being? Homura thought about how Madoka would feel about Mami's decision. Would the girl do anything to prevent it? Homura personally doubted it. Something told her that direct intervention wasn't how the Law of Cycles worked.

Sighing, Homura ate another piece of the cake. She had Madoka's assurance that she was always watching over them, but Homura wasn't the kind of person to take most things at face value. Just...a sign, somewhere, would have been enough for her. Something concrete. Otherwise it was like she was trying to fill in her holes with mere promises.

Inadvertently, she thought back again to Kyouko, and the redhead's own "hole". Almost amusedly, Homura realized the obvious parallels between their situations. They had both lost someone important to them. Neither of them had a replacement.

They were both partial human beings, still there but not really.

Homura scoffed to herself around a third mouthful of cake. She supposed that was why she and Kyouko were capable of getting along so well. They were both a pair of totally fucked up individuals.

Well, perhaps that was being a little too negative, but the truth behind the thought made her itch a little.

Any further mental discourse was interrupted when Homura felt a familiar presence behind her. Furrowing her brow and not even bothering to turn around, she said lowly, "What do you want, Kyubey?"

The alien sitting on her bed was probably lashing its tail at that moment. [_Just checking up on a valuable partner._]

"Mmm," Homura murmured unenthusiastically, stabbing with her fork at the cake now. She wasn't going to outwardly show it, but it had been a long time since she'd had a moment of solitary peace, and she had been enjoying her alone time. Not that she expected Kyubey to understand that.

[_What are you doing?_] The alien inquired, leaping off the bed and landing on the windowsill where Homura's stockinged feet were propped up, making the mattress creak behind them.

Homura ignored him for a moment as she took another bite of cake. She briefly considered being angry with Kyubey for what he'd done to Mami and Kiku, but ultimately decided that it would be pointless to express anything. She might as well save her energy. Still, it angered her that things like rage and sorrow meant nothing to the alien.

"Celebrating a birthday," She finally said, in a way that didn't invite further inquiry. The alien blinked in acceptance and turned to stare out the window with her. Homura eyed the creature's marked back and said, "What have you been up to these past two weeks?"

[_Nothing in particular. Many of my plans for the future were skewed after Mami's latest blunder._]

Homura felt a spark of irritation and said carefully, "Yes, that wasn't exactly part of your plan, was it? Last I remember, you were trying to _save_ Mami Tomoe."

[_The existence of magic itself goes against the laws of the universe,_] Kyubey replied without emotion. [_So things like plans and expectations can't be expected to pan out properly. Sacrificing Hanezawa was the most immediate solution available, but it obvious had some undesired side effects._]

"Well, your little 'side effects' are tearing the three of us apart," Homura snapped at the alien, finally giving up on the cake.

[_I don't remember you being so emotionally invested in the other two,_] Kyubey said blandly.

Homura pursed her lips and reached up to brush the pink ribbon hugging the crown of her head. "Either way, I have a duty to watch over both of them. I've already explained that to you. Besides, things change. I still don't particularly care for Mami Tomoe, but I care for Kyouko, and what you've done is affecting all three of us as a result. And I can't have that."

[_Then what do you plan to do about it?_] The alien asked tiredly, to the point that it almost felt like a jibe.

She gritted her teeth and stared down at her plate. It was supposed to be Madoka's birthday. Why was she letting this rat ruin it for her? "I don't know. And you know what, I usually _don't_ know. But I know it starts with you keeping your nose out of our damn business. Don't go around recruiting any more girls. Kyouko and I will find a way to manage. And don't bother Mami, either. Anything you do to help her won't be beneficial at all."

Kyubey flicked his ears and rose to his diminutive paws. [_I can't promise anything. But I would advise that you focus on taking care of yourself and Sakura-san, for now. Until this situation reestablishes itself, I can't have another puella magi out of commission. Do well for yourself._]

"Meaningful words, coming from you," Homura snapped. And was about to say more when she heard the door creaking open behind her.

Turning in her chair, she was a little unsurprised to see Kyouko emerging from the top of the unlit stairs. Poking her crimson colored head in, the girl peered into the room and said, "Homura? What are you doing?"

"I..." She started, turning back towards Kyubey, but the alien was already gone, lost somewhere amongst the ivory ether beyond the window.

"I was just having some cake," The raven haired girl said dumbly, lifting the plate in question, hoping fervently that she wouldn't be investigated further.

Kyouko stared at her, obviously confused, but didn't press for more information. "Oh. Well, you should have let me have some," She grunted, passing fully through the door and closing it behind her. Inwardly, Homura sighed in relief. One day, she would take the time to explain everything about Madoka to the redhead. Just...not today.

"Wow, so this is your room," Kyouko said absently, turning in a tight circle to take in the even tighter space. "It's so...practical."

Homura rolled her eyes and tried to get back into her cake. "It's small. It's cramped. It's got nothing in it but a bed and a stool. Don't embellish it."

The redhead rolled her eyes in a way that suggested extreme exasperation. "Alright fine. What's that thing they say about girls' rooms? That it's where they keep all their secrets?"

"I've never heard that in my entire life," Homura replied truthfully, stabbing with her fork. "Besides, if I had secrets to hide, I wouldn't keep them somewhere as obvious as, say, my closet. God, don't look at my closet like that. If you really must know, there's nothing but grenades in there."

Kyouko rolled her eyes again and crossed to the other side of the room, pulling up the last remaining stool and sitting by Homura in front of the window. The time traveler offered her some of the cake, and in response the redhead opened her mouth expectantly. After a moment of brief internal struggle, Homura caved in a fed the girl a small piece, trying to keep a straight face. But Kyouko saw the slight flush on her face and started to laugh, making Homura blush even harder.

"Forget it. I'm finishing this myself," Homura muttered as she began shoveling the remains of the cake into her mouth.

Kyouko reared back and clutched her chest in mock dismay. "I can't believe you, Homura. After all we've been through together, you're going to throw me under the bus like that?"

"I can throw you out this window, if you'd like."

"Alright, fine, you can have the goddam cake. Geez."

They sat quietly afterwards, both of them listening to Homura chew. As they did, Kyouko watched the other girl out of the corner of her eye. She really was an enigma. She had spent a very long time thinking that Homura was a cold individual who cared for no one but herself, but recent events had proven that opinion to be wrong. So who was Homura to her, then? A friend. Well, maybe that was a little too simple. Being magical girls, Kyouko didn't think that a mere "friendship" was enough to encompass their relationship.

What was beyond a friendship, then? The only thing she could think of was "lovers", but she didn't think they were _exactly_ at that stage with each other yet.

Though, privately, she didn't really mind the idea.

"Kyouko," Homura said suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"I'm about to say something incredibly odd. I'd ask that you please bear with me."

"I'll try my best."

Homura sighed around her cake. She shouldn't have expected anything more from the girl. "Earlier today, at the bench, you mentioned something about a 'hole in your chest'..."

Bitter memories returned, even if just for a moment. "...Yeah. I did," Kyouko said, a little more softly this time.

The time traveler shifted nervously, a rare sight in itself. "I thought about that on the way home," She continued, seeming to choose her words very carefully. "You probably forgot the details, but before all of this, I lost someone important to me as well..."

Kyouko, unsure of where they were going with this, simply nodded slowly.

Homura bit her lip. "And I recently realized, I've got a hole too. A big, massive, gaping hole, so large that I don't know if anything can fill it, just because of this one person. For the longest time, I haven't been able to do anything about it. I didn't think I even _had_ to. But, after hearing what you said, I...well, I thought..."

Kyouko still said nothing, too curious as to what Homura was going to tell her to comment, for fear of interrupting her somehow.

The raven haired girl flushed slightly at looked up at her before saying, "I thought, maybe...we could, um...fill each other's holes?"

There was a long, long moment of absolute silence as the two of them stared at each other, during which Homura's heart hammered in her chest, for reasons she would never be able to explain, as she desperately awaited the redhead's response.

Kyouko's eyes widened. "Wow. That sounded _totally_ suggestive."

A plate full of cake collided with her face.

* * *

><p>Another week passed without particular event. By which she meant that there was a surprising lack of demon activity during this span, something that went totally against her initial expectations. She and Kyouko had set out hunting that night fully expecting endless hordes of enemies, but found a number that was actually below average. It was perturbing, to say the least. Neither of them could come up with an explanation for the phenomenon, and in the end they had been forced to return home after a meager harvest.<p>

They also never saw the demon anomaly again, after nearly three weeks since that night. Another thing that bothered Homura at first, but like all things, eventually it receded to the back of her mind.

Besides, she had enough on her plate at the moment.

Regardless of Kyouko's _completely_ unnecessary comment, Homura had been able to make her point clear; she wanted the two of them to become closer. She had never imagined that she would be the one to broach such a subject, but that was how it worked out. Kyouko also seemed very open to the idea, so there were no problems there. Still, Homura had been what she said in a rather _general_ sense; there was nothing specific that she was looking for, just a sense of...companionship, she supposed. Someone she could count on, in this world where everything went wrong.

Kyouko, however, seemed to interpret this much differently.

Something was different between them now. The redhead had made the anonymous decision to spend almost every night at Homura's place, meaning that there was now much more interaction between them. This was far from undesirable, of course, except for how it _felt_ to have the girl around so often now.

Whenever their eyes accidentally met, Kyouko's would linger for a moment too long, sometimes raking down the length of her body and making her want to squirm. When they passed each other in the hall, the redhead would purposefully brush against her. During meals, she would watch her eat. It was a foreign concept to her, but Homura quickly realized that their friendship had become _platonic_.

Homura didn't know how much she minded that. Part of her naturally shirked away at the idea of being so intimate with another person, but the rest of her felt some odd sort of excitement, like she was entering uncharted territory, and she was, really. Even what she'd had with Madoka was purely emotional. Her only fear was that the redhead was just trying to mess with her head, and the more thought Homura gave to the subject, the more likely that possibility became in her eyes.

The idea was a little off putting, to say the least.

Regardless, entering this new phase of their relationship presented its own unique set of problems.

Namely, waking up in time for school.

"Ugh..." Homura groaned as her mind forced her into consciousness, eyes flitting open to take in the ceiling above her. A weak winter sunlight was streaming in through the half open window of her bedroom, making her eyes cringe at the intense brightness. Absently, she wondered why her alarm hadn't woken her like it normally did. Was it not Monday yet?

Shutting her eyes again, she blindly untangled the thick blankets from around her person, shivering when one of her legs became exposed to the frigid morning air. She had neglected to turn on the heat overnight, and it was freezing beyond the confines of her body-warmed bed. Bracing herself, she prepared to dive from under the sheets and into the unforgiving cold. In one, fluid movement, Homura slipped out from the bed.

Her bare feet had just barely touched the frozen wooden floor when the bed's second occupant rolled over a groggily latched onto her arm.

Blinking her eyes open at last, Homura turned slowly and felt her chest go numb when she saw Kyouko sleepily dragging her back under the sheets.

"_Kyouko?_" The shield user gasped at last, too surprised to resist the redhead, and in no time she had been pulled back into her original position. "When did you come up here?"

"Eh?" The older girl slurred, still not completely coherent. "Is' fuckin' cold down there, Hom...stingy bastard, keeping the thick blanket for yourself..."

Admittedly, this wasn't the first time they had woken up next to each other, but Homura felt that no matter how often it occurred she was never going to become accustomed to it. Kyouko still had a surprisingly strong grip on her wrist, despite her sleepy state, and Homura didn't particularly feel like contesting in a show of strength this early in the morning; her own muscles were still languid from slumber. Not to mention that their proximity was throwing her off balance; she noticed that she slept much too comfortably when the redhead was in the same bed as her.

Part of her wanted to ignore the clock behind her and stay where she was.

Sighing, Homura battled her desires and unpeeled her friend's fingers. "Kyouko, I have to get to school," She muttered before turning away from the girl, in a second attempt to get up and prepare herself for a day she was already late for.

"Nope," Kyouko giggled groggily, as she looped her arms around Homura's waist and yanked her back to the middle of the mattress, pressing them snugly together.

Homura gasped, her voice cracking in the most embarrassing way possible as she found herself thoroughly trapped by the redhead's embrace. Well, not completely. Kyouko actually had a fairly loose grip on her, but the warmth...it was intoxicating, and this was the only place where it was like that, surrounded by chilly air as they were. It sapped at her will to fight. Nevertheless, Homura did struggle against the other girl for a few moments, but it was wholly halfhearted, and she ended up lowering her chin and glowering instead.

"Kyouko," She finally begged, "Let me go. I'm already late."

"No way. Bed's gonna get cold," Kyouko whispered against the back of Homura's neck, making the smaller girl shiver despite the heat.

Flicking her eyes upwards, the raven haired girl read the time and cursed internally. Half past eight. School had already been in session for hours. Saotome-sensei was probably wondering where the hell she was.

As if on cue, the small home phone sitting on her bedside table started to ring, its monotonous tone filling the room. Reaching up and stretching to accommodate for Kyouko's grip on her midsection, Homura finally managed to snag the small device and bring it to her ear as the redhead grumbled to herself at the unwanted disturbance.

Accepting the call and settling back down into the bed, Homura murmured, "Hello?"

"_Akemi-san?_" Asked a voice from the other end, and Homura immediately recognized the concerned voice of her homeroom teacher, Kazuko Saotome. "_It's break already, and you haven't called in sick...are you feeling alright today? Is that why you were absent?_"

Kyouko, whose head was already considerably close to Homura's pressed forward a fraction in order to listen in on the conversation. She guessed that the school was calling to ask where her friend was.

Homura sighed and shifted against the arms keeping her trapped under the sheets. "I'm fine, Saotome-sensei. I just overslept, to be honest. I'll be there soon...nnn!"

The raven haired girl yanked the receiver away from her face and squirmed when she felt a single finger hook under the hem of her top and tug it upwards, exposing the soft flesh of her belly. A moment later a second digit was tracing the outline of her abdomen, making the muscles there twitch under a certain redhead's mischievous administrations.

"_Akemi?_" Her teacher's voice sounded over the line. "_Are you really okay?_"

"I..._mph_...I'm fine, sensei," Homura ground out, clenching her teeth when she heard Kyouko snicker in a sinister manner behind her. "Just a little tire-ah!" She gasped a second time, and this time her voice actually squeaked when Kyouko's finger took a terrifying dive down the length of her navel, stopping just short of the hem of her pajama bottoms.

The other end of the call went silent as Homura kicked backwards in a desperate attempt to silence her marauder, but only succeeded in tangling her legs with Kyouko's bare ones. The redhead took advantage of this to lock Homura's lower body in place, leveraging her weight so that she was free to attack the smaller girl's sides. Homura bit her lip and thrashed around on the mattress, all while trying to avoid making a single sound.

Kyouko, unable to contain herself, opened her mouth and laughed more than a little sadistically at the now panting girl who was so completely at her mercy. A moment later, Homura twisted her head in a vain attempt at freedom, and for a moment she felt the redhead's teeth and lips against her neck.

Homura couldn't help it. Her jaws went slack and she groaned, releasing all the pent up energy she had been so desperately trying to squash in one instant. The sound came out husky and _raw_, in a shocking display of vulnerability, so much so that even Kyouko paused in her movements, eyes going wide.

They both heard Saotome breathe in sharply through the phone, and in that instance, Homura was the most dismayed she had been in her entire life.

_"_Um...Saotome-sensei..." Homura began lamely, grabbing for an explanation but failing miserably. It didn't help that she was still gasping shallowly. "I...Sorry."

"_Oh, that's fine,_" Her teacher suddenly sighed over the line, sounding strangely wistful. "_I remember my first time, too. Just don't expect it to last, okay? Because men are undoubtedly the most disgusting, vile, unreliable beings to ever walk the-_"

She hung up.

Kyouko, feeling a little guilty at pushing Homura so far, said meekly, "So...how'd it go?"

Homura sighed, looking all too composed given the circumstances. "Looks like I've got the day off. Now come here. I think I'll throw you out the window after all."

And so began another chapter between them.

* * *

><p><strong>More fluff-esque things in the future. But it probably won't stay that way forever.<strong>

**I also like winter imagery. Yum.**

**Any thoughts or criticisms are greatly appreciated, they keep me motivated.**

**~Banshee**


	10. A Symbiotic Kiss

Chapter 10: A Symbiotic Kiss

Kyouko yawned and stretched her arms up over her head as she padded down the stairs, returning to the all too familiar first floor. Homura, who had descended the steps ahead of her and had turned to check the redhead's progress, looked more than a little guiltily at Kyouko's briefly exposed midsection. The older girl smirked to herself and dropped her arms, allowing her shirt to fall back around her person.

It was a testament to her maturity that she didn't laugh when a purely disappointed look crossed the shield user's face.

Pursing her lips and turning away, Homura muttered something about breakfast and stalked over to the kitchen. Kyouko followed with a twisted smile on her face, still laughing internally.

The world outside was still and cool. It had stopped snowing overnight, but a solid layer of the stuff still covered every available surface. Kyouko was actually surprised that school hadn't been called off for the day. Maybe they didn't do that anymore?

Well, not that she would know.

Meanwhile, Homura glided into the kitchen and began rooting around in the myriad of drawers there, sifting through various items with a contemplating look on her face. Still biting her tongue, Kyouko glanced at her as she took a seat at the small table by the island. She briefly realized then that this was the first time she was seeing Homura looking less than perfect. The smaller girl's hair was always sleeked back to the point of impeccability, with not a single hair out of place, and she almost never looked tired or frazzled.

Not that Homura looked totally baked at the moment, either. Just a couple of stray strands of hair poking out at random intervals, marring the mirage somewhat. Casual, wrinkled sleepwear. The occasional yawn. A slight slouch. Just a little bit of messiness, and Kyouko found herself surprisingly attracted to this new side of the her. It was such a stark contrast to the girl's usual prim appearance that...alright, she was going to say it, she thought it was kind of sexy. Just a little bit.

"I thought you always had cereal for breakfast?" The redhead voiced aloud, partly to distract herself from her less than morally sound thoughts. Her friend twitched in response, pulling out a set of actual ingredients.

"It's too damn cold for cereal," Homura replied sluggishly, closing her drawer at last. "And I'll have you know that I'm actually quite capable of cooking good food. I just never wanted to bother."

Kyouko smirked quietly to herself. "That's reassuring. You'd make a better housewife than me, at least."

She couldn't see Homura's face after she said that, but she did see the tips of the girl's ears go slightly red.

As she cupped her chin in her palm and watched her friend spark the stove, she knew full well what kind of effect her words and actions were having on the raven haired girl. She knew that the platonic element she had introduced to their relationship had seemingly come out of nowhere, and that it was somewhat unlike the redhead to be so abruptly friendly with anyone. But in her mind, it was justified.

"I hope you like soup in the mornings," Homura murmured as she began chopping vegetables. Kyouko grunted assuringly in response.

She'd been in a tough spot after that visit to the hospital. Kyouko knew that she was as afraid of losing anyone as the next person, despite the strong front she had put up in front of Homura. She had been superbly angry that Mami would do something so stupid to protect a mere school friend, but was patient enough to suppress her impulses long enough to let the blonde recover before blowing her cap. Except Mami never gave her the chance. It had left an ugly lump in her throat, because suddenly the last memory she had between them was her anger.

Then Homura came swooping in like a goddamn hero.

Kyouko unwillingly smiled when she turned to stare at the aforementioned girl's back a second time, as the thick aroma of meat and vegetables filled the morning air. _She has no idea what she did to me,_ the redhead thought almost amusedly to herself. She had been falling, and Homura had unwittingly caught her.

_"...we could fill each others' holes?_" She shook her head. She somewhat regretted what she'd said after that, but it had been necessary to suppress her instinct to absolutely smother Homura.

Now she felt like she was falling again, but in a completely different way.

Slipping out of her seat, Kyouko strode around the island until she was standing behind Homura, who did her best to ignore her and instead focus on the soup. Turning around and leaning her elbows against the edge of the counter, the redhead prodded the other girl's arm and said, "Gimme a taste."

The time traveler eyed her for a moment before sighing in resignation. Reaching over a grabbing a ladle from a stand, she filled it with one scoop of the liquid and held it to her own lips, blowing on it gently before awkwardly holding it out for Kyouko to consume.

The redhead grinned and leaned forward ever so slightly, closing her lips around the spoon, taking her time as she locked eyes with Homura with languid irises.

They stayed that way for a long moment, two constitutions warring silently against each other.

Then Homura's face went beet red, and she shoved the ladle halfway down Kyouko's throat.

_Gyuk-_

* * *

><p>Kyouko coughed dramatically and rubbed at her mouth.<p>

"You didn't have to push it back so far, you know," The redhead complained and she jogged after her companion.

Homura rolled her eyes even as she tried to hide a blush. "Shut up. You had it coming."

"And just how is _that_, exactly?"

"How should I know?"

The two of them were currently weaving through the labyrinth of alleyways webbing through way throughout Mitakihara, like an urban spiderweb. It had started snowing yet again, but at least it was just a very light fall this time, tiny little flakes of the stuff descending from the dark gray sky to lend some illumination to the otherwise dark corridors. The two magical girls strode onwards, searching for prey that didn't seem to be present at the moment.

Their body language further revealed the fact. They were both in fighting form as a precaution, but their stances were relaxed and their weapons lowered to their sides. After all, it had been hours since the last demon sighting.

Homura breathed heavily into the scarf she had brought along with her and looked up into the night sky. She and Kyouko had decided to hunt deep past midnight today in an attempt to flush out more demons, but the idea had borne little fruit. She couldn't explain it. Ever since the death of Kiku Hanezawa, demons were becoming more and more scarce. No matter how she racked her brain for a possible answer, Homura couldn't come up with a reason why this could be. Even Kyubey didn't seem to know, when she forced herself to buckle down and ask him.

Regardless, the change was worrying. Less demons meant less expended magic, so cleansing their Gems wasn't exactly a primary issue. But it did trigger a deep suspicion within her. Whenever something fluctuated regarding the demons, it was never a good thing.

"So, pick up anything yet?" Kyouko called out from behind her in the snow coated alleyway, arms folded casually behind her head.

Homura paused and closed her eyes before shaking her head dejectedly. Any magical girl was capable of sensing enemies, but she was better at it than Kyouko. "Nothing," She sighed. "Not even a smidgen of despair. It doesn't make any sense. Activity usually _spikes_ during the winter, after all."

She stopped in her tracks, long enough for the redhead to catch up with her.

"Maybe people are just extra happy this year?" The spear wielder suggested lamely.

Homura smirked slightly and reached out to lightly punch her friend on the shoulder. "Even if that is true, I doubt it'd cause this much of a difference. No, the demons are _going_ somewhere; or at least, that's as far as I can confidently hypothesize. Where and why, I have no clue."

The redhead shrugged and crunched down on her last Pocky. "Well, there's no use in worrying about it then. We'll have to wait and see how things progress if we're going to make any decisions."

Homura nodded, knowing that was logical but still not liking it. It bothered her to sit around and wait for things to happen of their own volition. She needed to be in control.

"We've searched high and low everywhere in the city," She muttered, reassuming her stride with Kyouko next to her. "I refuse to believe that they have simply _vanished._"

"Well, if they really have migrated somewhere like you said, we'll find them eventually," Kyouko replied. "Either that or they've gone to an entirely different city, in which case it is no longer our problem. Lighten up a little, Homura. Not everything is the end of the world."

"Everyone needs a little pessimism in their lives."

The redhead grinned and slipped her hands into her pockets to warm them. "See, that's why I like you. You're so doom and gloom that it's entertaining."

"Glad I could be of use."

Any further retort was cut off when Kyouko suddenly sidestepped and closed the distance between them, so that they pressed against each other and the tips of their hair could intermingle.

"I think you're even more fun when you're optimistic, though," The girl whispered in her ear.

The suddenly heat on her lobe made Homura leap away and hold the side of her face, staring at her friend with a slight flush on her face. Kyouko just laughed and continued walking, exiting the end of the alleyway and emerging into the moonlit plains beyond. Dropping her hand and grumbling to herself, Homura followed.

The alley opened up into a large open space, covered with frosted grass and ringed by the skeletons of small trees. It was a park, the largest one in the city, situated at the very center of the metropolis. The middle of the park was dominated by a lake, frozen over now by the intense cold, standing stilly like a massive frozen heart.

"Damn," Kyouko whistled when she reached the lake before Homura did. "It's been a long time since I've seen the lake freeze over. Must have been years."

As they wordlessly approached the edge of the solid frozen expanse, Homura briefly thought that this was her first time witnessing the phenomenon. It was nothing special in the grand scheme of things, but the sight of it was a little striking. The entire surface of the lake glittered softly under the gentle glow of the moon, as if the city's heart were pulsing underneath. Frosted stalks of grass crunched lightly under her boots as she walked, giving everything a weirdly cool aura. It was beautiful, certainly, but a little surreal in its own right.

"Come on!" Kyouko suddenly called out behind her, before leaping forward and skipping a few steps away from the bank until she was completely standing on the ice.

Stopping at the edge of the grass and frowning at the redhead, Homura said, "Are we just abandoning the hunt now?"

"It's not like we were going to find anything anyway."

That much was true. "Are you sure that's safe?" She decided to ask, gesturing at the ice. "You don't know if it's thick enough to hold your weight."

Kyouko considered this for a moment, then stomped solidly on the ice. "Feels thick enough to me," She shrugged. Then a wide grin. "Unless that was a joke about my weight. Come on, get over here. Let's have some fun."

"I'm fine," Homura sighed. "You can go have fun by yourself."

"Killjoy. Why not?"

The time traveler didn't answer immediately, instead looking up to regard the world around her. It was a bowl of white on a bowl of black, as the night sky above them clashed peacefully with the ivory landscape. Lowering her head again, she bit her lip before admitting, "I...um, I can't swim."

A raised pair of eyebrows. "What, seriously? You of all people?"

Homura's flush deepened as she dug a needless hole in the snow with her toe. "I just never learned. It was never very necessary." Her breath billowed out as she spoke.

Kyouko snorted, two brief jets of steam floating away from her nostrils. "I feel like you've never associated with anything you consider unnecessary."

"Well, I do associate with you."

She said it with her eyes closed in exasperation, so Homura was understandably less than prepared when Kyouko lunged forward and seized her wrists before dragging them both over the expanse of the ice. Gasping at the sudden move, Homura instinctively dug her heels in to create resisting friction, but only succeeded in slipping and falling back on her rear. In keeping with the redhead's momentum, the two of them slid further towards the center of the frozen lake, further away from the bank. Further from safety, in Homura's mind.

Drawing in a sharp breath when she realized that they were now standing entirely on ice, Homura scrambled jerkily to her feet and clung to the nearest stable object, which just happened to be Kyouko.

The redhead laughed loudly as the time traveler curled the edges of her coat in her fists, striving clumsily to regain her footing. "Well, how unnecessary am I now?"

"Shut _up_," Homura hissed as she wobbled to her heels. "Do you realize we are standing over open water right now?"

"So what? It's frozen. What scares you so much?"

Homura pursed her lips as she finally managed to stop wobbling. "I fell in once, as a child. I haven't been very inclined since."

Kyouko laughed when the smaller girl's momentary neglect caused her to stumble again. "You've got the weirdest little phobias," She smirked as she reached out and held Homura firmly by the shoulders, helping to steady her. "Can't swim, hates sharing beds, hates mazes..."

"I'm justified on the mazes."

Kyouko rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure. Hold still, would you?" She abruptly asked as she bent slightly and trailed her finger down the length of Homura's calf.

Jumping at the sudden contact, Homura spat out, "What are you-"

"Would you mind letting me into your soul?" The redhead asked her casually, as if she had just asked for the time instead.

Homura blinked blankly back at her. "My soul...you mean grief sharing?"

"Yeah, whatever you call it. Would you?"

It wasn't something petty that Kyouko was asking her for. Grief sharing, the melding of souls, was a phenomenon that had been recently discovered in magical girls, and still had questions surrounding it. But at a basic level, it was the event in which two girls allowed their mental barriers to fall so that their souls may intermingle, often in an attempt to augment each other's power.

The tactic was mostly used for combat enhancement, but only between pairs who were comfortable with each other and _very_ compatible. Common benefits included hybridized abilities or even constant telepathy that negated the need for spoken words. It was extremely convenient, if the circumstances allowed for it.

But she was getting ahead of herself. To be frank, grief sharing was considered a rather _intimate_ affair amongst them. She had never done it herself, and didn't know what it would mean for Kyouko to be her first.

Her first. The parallels to something else entirely were terrifyingly numerous.

Not to mention, of course, that people who were unaccustomed to grief sharing often...lost control of their emotional stability, so to speak.

And something told her that losing control in front of Kyouko wasn't such a good idea.

Inwardly, Homura sighed to herself. Her answer should be obvious.

Raising her head, she said, "Sure. Go ahead."

Kyouko blinked before grinning widely. "What, seriously? I was almost sure you'd say no."

"I'm not _that_ uptight."

"Well, then don't blame me for whatever might happen."

"How comforting."

Reaching forward, Kyouko placed the tips of her fingers on the other girl's Soul Gem and bit her lip, extending her magic. A moment later, Homura started when she felt something else, something separate, brush up against the boundaries of her consciousness. It was Kyouko's soul, so to speak. Or not even. It _was_ Kyouko's soul, and it was requesting entrance to her own.

Gulping, Homura considered turning back. Kyouko would understand, certainly, and it _was_ a little risky to do this so impulsively, without preparing themselves mentally first. The possibility of losing their grip was much too high. Not to mention that the redhead had failed to explain why they were doing this to begin with.

Then she met the taller girl's eyes for a moment, and that blasted curiosity dominated her again. She wanted to take the risk. Since when had Kyouko become so good at taking her out of her comfort zone?

Taking a deep breath, Homura opened her soul.

It felt...profound. Like something else was entering her body, and acclimating itself. There was the definite presence of something_ there_, but it was both foreign a familiar, like a relative she hardly knew but didn't dislike. Their souls melded together, tentatively at first, testing each other out before eventually relaxing. A sense of togetherness, but they both still had a good grip on their own individuality. Independent symbiosis.

They both shivered involuntarily when the process completed itself and they fully clicked. Homura was a little embarrassed to admit that she fisted Kyouko's collar in her hand for a moment as she tried to keep herself balanced. The emotions, the thoughts, the desires of another person; they weren't hers, but she knew them, and it was taking a little effort to absorb all of it.

Both girls were panting slightly as they slowly regained their footing and looked at each other.

"Wow..." Kyouko murmured, inhaling forcefully through her nose. "That...I'd forgotten how much it shakes you. It's been a while."

Emotions were crowding Homura's chest, seemingly out of nowhere. Maybe because that _had_ come out of nowhere. "You've...done this before?" She asked slowly, trying to squash the odd buzz rushing through her veins.

The redhead's vibrance seemed to dim momentarily. "Once or twice. With Mami."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Let's not talk about that."

Leaning down, Kyouko closed her eyes and seemed to focus intensely. Her Soul Gem glowed faintly for a moment, and then Homura saw the small red chains emerging from the redhead's hands to curl around the rims of her boots, quickly forming themselves into razors.

She stared dumbly at the new additions to her shoes for a moment, lifting one leg to examine the dark crimson edges. "You made ice skates with your magic," She noted unnecessarily.

A smirk. "Impressed?"

Now she understood. Without grief sharing, Kyouko would have been unable to manifest the blades onto Homura's body; outside physical contact with foreign magic was traditionally rejected.

Homura raised her head and regarded her friend cooly, but her chest still felt hot. "Maybe. Is this the 'fun' you mentioned earlier?"

"Of course it is," Kyouko smiled as she placed her hand flat against Homura's shoulder and pushed, so that the two of them drifted away from each other, both on their own crimson lattice skates.

"W-wait, Kyou-" Homura squeaked as she flailed her arms in erratic circles, just barely managing to avoid falling over again. She briefly thought how ironic it was that she could jump over skyscrapers, yet couldn't skate for her own life. Though she hadn't exactly done this before.

"Come on, push yourself over here!" Kyouko called out mischievously, smiling as the other girl awkwardly attempted to learn the new physics surrounding her. "Just glide forward slowly with your legs. For Christ's sake, it isn't that hard."

Pursing her lips and finding herself filled with a strange sense of determination, Homura leaned forward and attempted to glide, holding out her arms to her sides for balance. Thankfully, she didn't fall a second time, but progress was so painfully slow that is almost made her want to. Part of her wondered why she was indulging the redhead so much.

"Alright, that was...well, pretty bad," Kyouko said, deciding to drop any pretense of optimism when Homura finally reached her. "It's pretty weird. I always figured you'd be pretty good at things requiring coordination."

"Well, so sorry to disappoint you," Homura said through gritted teeth.

"Just copy me," The redhead suggested, gliding forward with obvious ease with her hands even clasped behind her back. She turned after a few yards and started skating backwards, her crimson coattails flapping gently with her momentum.

Homura rolled her eyes at the obvious flaunting but did her best, pushing herself ahead with notably less comfort. It was still difficult to control her body, but it didn't feel completely foreign anymore, and this time she managed to join Kyouko on the other side of the lake in less time. She arrived admittedly with a wide smile on her face at the accomplishment, but she chalked most of it up to the soul sharing.

"Getting better," Kyouko admitted. "Though you're still nowhere near my level."

Homura rolled her eyes. "Then do teach me, sensei."

"If you insist."

They skated like that for the next half hour, gliding aimlessly around the perimeter of the lake as Homura became steadily accustomed to the movements. It may have been unfamiliar to her, but she was always good at adapting quickly, and as time passed she became comfortable on the frozen lake, though the thought of the water lurking just beneath her feet did still scare her a little. But she did her best to ignore this and instead focused on Kyouko, the occasional smiles the redhead would throw back at her, and the little traces of white her skates would leave in the ice.

It made the world feel a little smaller around them, despite the great expanse of snow, as if by following Kyouko around the lake they were creating a universe for themselves.

Homura was staring and she knew it. Kyouko would laugh whenever she still made the mistake of stumbling, and she would see it and feel like giggling herself. The redhead just looked so free, twirling around on her crimson skates with the boyish smile of hers, as the world ended at the grassy banks surrounding them. She thought initially that this was born out of some hidden love for skating, but Homura soon realized this wasn't the answer. Kyouko was just having fun. The idea was unnecessary indulgence would normally have put a frown on her face, but now, as the two of them glided towards each other and shoved each other playfully, well...

She began to think that maybe this wasn't so bad, once in a while.

"Gotcha," Kyouko cried as she took advantage of Homura's thoughtful absence and swooped by, reaching out to push the girl and send her spinning. Caught off guard by the sudden attack, Homura flailed once before falling on her rear and sliding back painfully across the lake. The redhead stopped to guffaw and her victim, but only had so much time to celebrate when Homura stood back up and began to charge her.

Acting quickly, Kyouko bent down and scooped up a handful of ice, drawing her arm back as if she intended to throw it. The feint caused Homura to balk, and her momentum decreased dramatically, causing her to change course and jet past the redhead. Laughing at her success, Kyouko reached out and grabbed Homura by the sleeve, tugging so that they spun around their own center of gravity.

"_Still_ not on my level," She smirked as the two of them gyrated in the same spot.

"Cocky little-" Homura began as she leaned forward to punch her on the shoulder, but Kyouko simply yanked her sleeve again and sent the smaller girl crashing to the floor. She barely had time to snort in amusement before Homura's hand lashed upwards and seized the redhead, dragging them both down.

Any semblance of actual skating was totally lost as the two of them proceeded to wrestle playfully on the ice, their laughter echoing off the trees and mingling in the soft black of the night sky. The world spun around Homura's vision as she opened her mouth and actually _giggled_ uncontrollably, for what felt like the first time in her life. Maybe it was the grief sharing, or maybe it was just her. All the stress the universe had bestowed upon her, all the obligations and dark history, seemed to dissipate as she allowed herself to be lost in the pure fun of the moment. It was an exhilarating feeling, like something supremely heavy was being lifted off her chest and tossed aside by the laughing girl she was tangled with.

Energy was a finite resource, however, and soon the two of them became momentarily exhausted by their own antics, pausing with their backs still to the ice as they breathed hard and simply regarded each other. Kyouko seemed to have ultimately won the fight, as she hovered over Homura's body with her hands planted on either side of the time traveler's body, the persons nestled close together. Both of them were a little too winded to realize the acute intimacy of their position.

As Homura tried to suppress the endless stream of giggles, she took on Kyouko's face above hers, still feeling a stupidly carefree smile tainting her lips. It was freezing, but the redhead had worked up a slight sweat, and the tips of crimson hair framing the girl's face glistened with little specks of ice. She was wearing that toothed grin again, the one where her fangs poked out in the most eye-catching of ways, a smile Homura had grown to love over the months.

Their Soul Gems were pulsing faintly, in unison, like a synchronized heartbeat.

Their breathing calmed as time wore on, and suddenly the lake was silent around them.

"Still not...on your level?" Homura breathed out, her eyes lingering.

Kyouko smiled and let out a deep breath. "Getting there."

Then she lowered her head so that their noses were touching, one cold tip resting against another as the redhead closed her eyes and refocused on catching her breath.

Homura narrowed her eyes playfully. "What do you think you're doing?" She asked in mock suspicion, still thoroughly winded at the moment. The glow of her Gem picked up, and Kyouko's sped up in response.

Kyouko smiled sinisterly back at her, their eyes meeting between their close proximity. "Maybe I'm trying to steal one?"

She didn't know what urged her to say what she said next, but the results couldn't be denied. Maybe it was the emotional effect of her Soul Gem, or maybe she was just completely crazy.

Blinking once, slowly, Homura whispered, "Why don't you, then?"

Kyouko frowned down at her, eyes still not exactly clear, then leaned down and placed her lips on Homura's.

It was totally feasible, at least in the moment. They were sharing souls. Sharing souls meant an emotional link, and once you added a pair of locked lips to the equation, well...it meant that instead of buzzing, now they were _rushing_. Something thick, something undeniable, swept over Homura's mind, and she knew then that it was useless to resist it. Whether she wanted it or not, her soul was going to get it.

Kyouko started slow, but Homura surprised her by pulling her closer and tilting her head slightly, deepening the kiss. The redhead made a small sound in the back of her throat, and the vibrations traveled between them, sending a thrill through Homura's spine. The time traveler vaguely noted that Kyouko had her fingers tangled in her hair as they broke apart for a moment.

"H-Homura-"

It wasn't that she had any experience. She was running purely on instinct and adrenaline, and though the movement of their lips was sloppy it only served to add to the rawness of it all. It was so _hot,_ despite the cold, and she wanted it even warmer. Kyouko groaned, her Soul Gem flaring brighter as she bit gently at Homura's lower lip, and suddenly they were scrabbling at each other, not just their mouths but their hands and legs as well, tangling together and gripping, pulling, trying to get _more_ as they pressed against each other-

_"Kyou-"_

And then it was too much, as they weren't accustomed to maintaining a link through such thick emotional traffic. They hit some sort of limit, and their connection snapped like a taut copper wire, sparking and whipping apart as quickly as it had come.

The rush disappeared so soon that it felt like something was being torn away from Homura's chest, as Kyouko's soul quite literally fled back to its original host.

All that remained was the aftermath.

Each girl watched the other in horror as their eyes slowly cleared, until they were sharp and terrifyingly bright. A long, long silence pervaded the air between them as they struggled to catch their breath once again, only this time it was for an entirely different reason.

Homura was the first to react. Gasping like a beached whale, she forced her hands between them and shoved Kyouko off her, sending the redhead rolling as she tumbled in the opposite direction herself. The redhead did not seem to mind at all, in fact she obliged as she scrambled to her knees and half ran to the far side of the lake, stopping only when it occurred to her that she had nowhere to run.

Homura, meanwhile, fell back on her elbows as she stared at the redhead wildly, still utterly at a loss with herself. How had it gotten like this? They'd only grief shared for the skates, and then the wrestling, and...jesus, what was _wrong_ with her?

Turning away from Kyouko's twitching form and pressing her forehead to the ice, Homura tried to process what had just taken place. But that brought back memories, and she did _not_ want memories if it meant that her face got so hot it was nearly melting the surface beneath her cheek. She had to formulate some sort of response. They couldn't stay like this forever. But what was she going to say? There weren't many things one could do regarding damage control when they'd just been _kissing_-

[_What are you two doing?_]

Lifting her head, Homura was both dismayed and elated to see Kyubey sitting on the opposite bank, tail swishing impatiently. The alien had apparently been looking for them and had been attracted by the grief sharing, or at least that was what she gathered.

[_I thought you were hunting for demons,_] The alien continued, oblivious as ever to the situation he had just stumbled into. [_Does this have anything to do with it?_]

"Um...we were...we were just taking a break!" Kyouko exclaimed much too cheerfully, leaping to her feet and reaching down to help Homura up. "Right, Homura?"

"R...Right," Homura murmured, almost balking when the redhead's hand slipped into hers. The traces of connection were still there. "We...couldn't find any demons. High inactivity. Needed to allot our time differently..."

[..._I see,_] Kyubey replied, not sounding very convinced at all, but he didn't press the subject. [_Very well then. We shall call it a night for today. Head back home and get some sleep._]

"Will do!" Kyouko almost bellowed, nodding her head violently.

Kyubey stared at her oddly before fading into the shadows.

Then it was just the two of them again, and Homura shifted nervously behind the redhead, unsure of what to say, or even if she should be saying anything at all. She would have time to lock herself in the bathroom and freak out later. What was she going to do _now_?

She was about to open her mouth and say something when Kyouko abruptly said, "Come on, Homura. Let's go and get some sleep. You...you have school tomorrow, right?"

And then she trotted off hurriedly through the ever thickening snow, leaving an astonished Homura behind.

Kyouko, concerned about _school._

_What have I done?_

* * *

><p><strong>Pretty short chapter this time. I might extend it. Or not. <strong>

**Hooray was unexpected sexual tension. I hope I built it up well enough. If not, well, full steam ahead anyways.**

**I like the grief sharing idea. Will probably use it again in the future.**

**This story could pretty much go anywhere from here. I don't even know myself. Maybe it'll get super sad, or maybe it'll get super slice of lifey. I might even change the rating to M, for obvious reasons.**

**Grief sharing with an M rating. How intriguing.**

**Anyways, ignore my rambling...do leave your thoughts in the reviews.**

**~Banshee**


	11. Ambiguous

Chapter 11: Ambiguous

She took the next day off from school.

A simple call was enough to suffice. One pinched nose and a regretful lamentation regarding the persistence of her cold was enough to convince the ever sympathetic Saotome-sensei, who had fervently urged her to stay home once again and focus on combatting her illness. The woman had then gone on to say something about getting sick after her own deflowering as well, but Homura had hung up before she could get any further than that.

It pricked her with a little guilt to manipulate her good natured teacher so, but she knew that it was necessary. She wasn't about to go to school where she would have to focus for seven consecutive hours when _that_ was running around in her mind. No, she needed time to think. To process.

What good that was going to do, she had absolutely no idea.

Waking up that morning felt both familiar and different. Peeling open her stressed eyes to the gray glow filtering in softly through the window, Homura turned her head to the side and duly noted that she was alone in the bed, for once. It shook her a little. She had become accustomed to tolerating the redhead's presence by her side every waking morning, and somewhere in the middle that toleration had become a sort of warped appreciation.

The rest of her morning was equally uneventful. She rolled out of bed, washed up, and threw on some winter clothes before pausing to examine herself in the mirror. She noted how tired she looked, despite the extra sleep she had allowed herself. It felt almost like she had lost something. But what? It couldn't be Kyouko. The girl was sleeping on the couch on the first floor, after all. They weren't _separate_.

They hadn't spoken of the kiss the night before, as they were blocked by an unscalable wall of unresolved feelings and insecure thoughts. A quiet, tense dinner was shared, before they both bid the other adieu. It was scripted, it was formal, it was unfamiliar. And as Homura settled down to retire for the night, she could only think that it felt just like their relationship when this had all started. Were they back to square one? Then again, since when had she been trying to get out of square one?

Descending quietly down the stairs and taking care not to let her footsteps creak on the aging wood, Homura padded into the kitchen and brought together a quiet breakfast. That was the problem with her. It was quiet. _Too_ quiet. She used to adore the silence. Now it was suffocating her. Carrying her bowl of usual cereal to the high table and bringing the first spoonful to her mouth, Homura nervously regarded the sleeping form of a certain redhead in the adjoining living room. Kyouko was still asleep, it seemed, and probably would be for the while. The girl rarely woke up on her own volition. She was laid stretched out on the couch, back facing the rest of the world so that Homura couldn't see her face. Which was good. She didn't know how she'd feel about laying eyes on those lips again.

Sighing softly to herself and finishing the last of the cereal, she took her bowl to the sink and left it there. Then she set about making Kyouko's food, because she knew the girl wasn't independent enough to make it herself. Something warm, to combat the cold. Then again, anything heated would most likely cool by the time it was noticed, which would probably be around noon. A sandwich, then. Brunch. With plenty of lettuce but no tomatoes, a preference Homura had refused to accommodate for countless times but always ended up indulging. She briefly recalled how the redhead would grin at her when she pulled out the tomatoes even after saying no.

When that was done with, she threw on a scarf and turned to regard Kyouko a final time at the door. Part of her wanted to go over there and wake the girl up, to sit them both down somewhere and talk it out. Homura knew it wasn't healthy to let things sit for long.

Then she closed her eyes. If only she had the bravery to apply her logic.

Pushing open the door, she slipped through, closing it quietly behind her with a gently click.

No one saw Kyouko's ears twitch at the noise.

* * *

><p>It wasn't that she never took walks. She just rarely had the time. With all the priorities her life tended to give her, making room in her schedule to wander the streets of Mitakihara and leave herself to her own thoughts rarely became important. But with recent events, and the dwindling amounts of demons...she could afford to indulge herself.<p>

It wasn't snowing at the moment, but enough had fallen overnight to keep the coating strong. She briefly wondered when it was going to stop. They were now approaching November, and the winter wasn't even in its peak times yet. She preferred the cold, but she didn't look forward to any possible blizzards.

She didn't have a particular destination in mind, so she let her feet take her where they wished. As she walked, her mind drifted further in the opposite direction. Homura wasn't the kind of person to bury an issue if she couldn't discern an immediate solution; she liked to think about it until an answer did present itself, as she found that the more thought she put toward something, the more likely it was to resolve itself. Still, she didn't know if that was going to work this time. No matter how she thought about it, she didn't know how she was going to fix this issue.

Because it was an issue, wasn't it? The two of them couldn't even bear to look the other in the eye anymore. They were both a little scared of each other, and more than a little scared of themselves. The emotions that had arisen between them. Those hadn't come out of nowhere. Despite her inexperience, Homura knew far too well that grief sharing didn't make people _that_ emotionally unstable. The desires had to come from somewhere. Yes, she supposed that was what bothered her the most about it.

The grief sharing hadn't given her those desires. It had only augmented them.

Looking up, she saw that she had somehow wandered to yet another of the many parks dotting Mitakihara. This one was hugging the side of a modestly sized hill near the center of the city, a small little road lined with shrubs and tables with chessboards laid into them. Snow was covering most of the cold stone seats of the tables, and beyond them Homura could see the outline of the lake from the previous night.

Well, all except one of the seats were unoccupied, anyways. The one at the far right was taken by a single, straight-shouldered woman.

Homura paused in her steps and looked at the initial stranger before recognizing her.

"Oh, don't just stand there and stare, Akemi-san," Junko Kaname smiled as she turned and met eyes with the girl. "If you would like to join me, then do so."

Homura didn't reply immediately, instead regarding the woman before her. She had almost forgotten than Madoka's mother lived in Mitakihara. It had been a very long time since she had run into them, and she didn't frequent the area around Madoka's home for obvious reasons. Looking around, she noted that neither Tatsuya nor his father seemed to be present. Suddenly, a small little idea grew in the depths of her mind. Maybe this was an opportunity to seek some advice.

Finally, tilting her head quietly, Homura walked forward and took the seat across from Junko at the table.

The woman nodded approvingly and drew her coat more tightly around her. It was warm and sturdy looking, just like its owner. Homura wondered what this woman was doing out here, alone, in the cold when she had someone at home probably waiting for her. Then it occurred that the very same applied to her.

"I've got a flight to be on later today," Junko suddenly sighed, unknowingly answering one of Homura's questions. "So I wanted to take a little time to relax before going on my trip. This spot always helps to calm me."

"Do you come here often?" She asked softly, more out of courtesy than anything else.

A worn smile. "Just sometimes," Junko replied. "When I have a lot on my mind."

Homura exhaled slowly. "Does it work?"

"I don't know. I just come here whenever I need a break."

Homura smiled softly, a small puff of steam drifting away from her nose. "You don't seem like the kind of person who needs breaks."

"Everyone needs breaks," Junko corrected her, shrugging playfully. "Even me. You, especially..." The woman briefly examined her out of the corner of her eye. "...look like you need a breather."

"Do I really look that worn out?" Homura wondered aloud, feeling slightly irritated at how obvious she must be.

Junko eyed her carefully. "No," She finally said, smiling. "But I'm a pretty good judge of character, so it might be easier for me to tell. Or maybe it's because I'm very familiar with the feeling."

Homura merely grunted, tracing the grooves between the chess squares with her nail.

Junko laughed softly, a deep, rich sound. "Don't take it personally. By the way, what happened to your ribbon?"

Blinking, Homura reached up to find that she had forgotten to slip on Madoka's ribbon this morning. She realized that she must have left it on her bedsides table back in her room. It struck her a little to note that she had forgotten something so important to her. "I...I must have forgotten."

The older woman examined her again, and Homura felt like the subject of a medical experiment. "You aren't just wandering around out here for leisure, are you?"

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "No," The time traveler admitted. "No, I'm not. In fact, I would like some advice."

Junko narrowed her sharp irises at the younger girl, giving Homura the urge to squirm, which she resisted. There was always something _superior_ about Junko Kaname whenever the two of them interacted. It wasn't a form of arrogance, and the woman was far from aloof; no, it was simply evident that she was probably wiser than anyone else in the room at any given time. Homura knew that the two of them had only spoken sparingly in the past, but she felt that time would do nothing to erode that feeling.

"Mmm," Junko murmured, reaching quietly into her bag. "Love issues?"

Homura blushed right on cue. "Excuse me?"

"It's written all over your face," The older woman smiled mischievously. "Or at least, something very much like it. I can't say that love is my area of expertise, but love always involves people, and _those _are certainly within my field."

The time traveler suddenly became very interested by a piece of ice sitting by her foot. After a moment's consideration, she parted her lips slightly and said, "You are a very dangerous woman, aren't you?"

Junko only shrugged, pulling a small box out of her bag.

"Can't say I haven't heard that before. Care for a game of chess?"

"I'm ready when you are," Junko said quietly, moving her third pawn forward. She sounded almost bored.

As Homura took a moment to move one of her own pitch black pawns forward, she wondered how much of her account would be truth, and how much would be fabricated. After all, she hardly planned to give Junko all of the..._specific_ details regarding her problem. On the other hand, she didn't want to exasperate her source of advice. Although something told her that Madoka's mother would be able to infer anything Homura chose to leave out. The time traveler briefly wondered where all that cleverness had gone in Madoka.

Maybe Tatsuya would turn out to have taken all those genes.

She was getting sidetracked again. "I have a friend," She began, watching as the enemy knight advanced into the battlefield. She wondered how seriously she was supposed to be taking this game. "We had a bad falling out in the past, but we've since reconciled. Or I suppose you could say that circumstances brought us back together."

"This friend of yours," Junko murmured as she watched Homura's second pawn take a tentative step forward, "What's she like?"

Homura pursed her lips as she considered her next move, and her next words. "Brazen," She finally said. "Strong ideals, and not very delicate when it comes to other people. Doesn't concern herself with the details, unless it becomes necessary." Homura reached out for another word. "A little selfish," She admitted.

Junko's bishop cut its way across the board. "But that's why you like her. For her frankness."

"Yes, I suppose," Homura murmured tiredly, no longer surprised by the woman's powers of inference. It felt like she was dealing with a Japanese Sherlock.

Junko nodded slowly as she watched her opposing bishop move to counter. "So what happens next?"

The younger girl allowed another lull in the conversation, closing her eyes as she resorted the events in a way that wouldn't give too much description of the parties involved. "This friend has another friend," She continued, speaking slowly in order to avoid a slip of the tongue. "Someone much closer to her, someone who is much more important to her." She paused again, fingers trailing nervously over the tip of a rook.

The business woman sitting across from her took her eyes off the board for the first time to look at her opponent. "And what does this second friend do?"

Homura's eyes darted around the board but interpreted nothing. "There's an accident," She replied, surprising Junko by moving her king. "She's never been mentally stable, and it sends her to a darker state of mind. My first friend attempts to help her, and fails. She's scorned."

"And that's where you come in," Junko quickly guessed, sweeping her rook across the board.

"What?" Homura asked in confusion, the game stalling as she did.

"You came in and comforted her, I'm assuming," Junko reiterated. "This unstable girl, she leaves a hole, and you arrive to fill it. Am I wrong?" She added with a small, meek smile.

Homura thought back to the promises she had made that snowy day at the bench and wondered if she was speaking to a psychic. "...Yes," She managed to admit, though she didn't like the way Junko had chosen to describe it. "As a result, we've grown closer, but...I don't feel like I have control of the situation, as it is. Things are just moving so quickly, and I don't feel like I can keep up."

She was losing the game, but didn't feel particularly motivated to try and turn the tables in her favor. She simply didn't see the point. Meanwhile, Junko took her last knight off the board, lifting the wooden figure and palming it thoughtfully. Homura couldn't tell if the woman was brooding over their conversation or her next move. She was leaning more towards the latter.

"You aren't the kind of person to just 'feel' like you can't keep up," Junko suddenly deduced, forcing eye contact. "Or at least, I don't think so, if you'll forgive my opinion. Something must have happened to make you think that way."

Homura blushed slightly when she remembered, and hoped that it would pass off as chafing from the cold. She fidgeted slightly under the woman's knowing gaze, seeing as she had been planning to leave the entirety of the previous night outside of their conversation.

Junko leaned back in her seat, exhaling slowly. "I won't force you to tell me," She said assuringly.

That was far from comforting. Homura would have no qualms about telling her if the subject matter were something she was more comfortable with discussing. She wondered how much of a difference it would make if she chose to say nothing. But that might mean she would have to return to her home empty handed, with a girl at home who wouldn't look her in the eye anymore, with no idea as to what she had to do to amend that. Homura didn't trust herself to figure it out on her own. If she tried to tackle this issue alone, she and Kyouko would never get back on the same page, and that something she didn't want.

Homura closed her eyes, letting out a long, ragged breath, and told her.

Junko burst out laughing when she finished, making Homura flush to the the tips of her ears and stare angrily away from the chess board, clenching her fists in her lap. Her obvious body language did nothing to quail the woman, however, who continued to guffaw as she pushed her bishop across the board again.

"Check," She smiled, the word wobbling through the air as she tried to contain herself.

Homura grumbled to herself and crossed her arms, refusing to take her turn.

"Alright, I apologize," Junko amended, twining her fingers together, but still grinning. "But color me a little disappointed, Akemi-san. I expected you of all people to have more interesting problems."

"I _do_ have more interesting problems."

"Then why not tell me about those?"

"Because I can handle those. I can't handle _this_."

Junko exhaled loudly and wiped off some invisible dust from the edge of the chessboard. "It seems to me, quite honestly, that you don't understand why your friend has introduced this new level of...intimacy between the two of you. A simple friendship is what you were content to have, but she's taking it further than anticipated. It's unbalancing you."

Homura looked at her through the corner of her eye and didn't say a word, still miffed that one of the few people she genuinely respected would laugh at her. But she did nod, albeit imperceptibly.

The businesswoman smirked again, making the girl's nerves spark in mild annoyance. "I can't claim to know precisely what your friend is thinking, or what she's going through. But based on what you've so honestly told me, I can guess rather accurately, I think."

Homura raised an eyebrow expectantly, but Junko shook her head with a smile, gesturing at the chess pieces between them. Rolling her eyes, the time traveler consented and took her turn, moving her king out of danger.

Junko nodded in approval and took her own turn. "You filled the hole left behind by the unstable friend. Or more accurately, you were _there_ to fill it. After a person loses something, they usually need someone to cling to, a replacement. The circumstances simply allowed for you to be that person for her."

Homura's fingers paused over her queen, one of the few power pieces still in her possession. "So I'm just a substitute for Mami," She deduced softly, feeling something sharp growing in her chest. Pain?

The older woman noticed that her young charge had accidentally named one of the involved parties but didn't comment on it. The time traveler absently set her piece down and Junko moved her own, placing her opponent into a tighter check this time.

"I won't deny the possibility," She consented, watching as Homura scanned the battlefield with little conviction. "But purely based on my judgement, I don't think it's likely. Your friend's loss was the catalyst that allowed for your relationship to move forward, but that one incident doesn't have to define the two of you."

"But none of this would have happened if she _didn't_ lose anyone," Homura challenged.

"You don't know that. Besides, sometimes you have to lose something to find a better version. Why do you think I fire my employees so often?"

Giving up on any sort of elaborate strategy, Homura simply moved her king out of check again. She considered Junko's perspective. Perhaps it was true. There was no real way to tell without asking the source directly, but in the grand scheme of things Kyouko's answer wouldn't change their present situation. Still, it gave her a strange buzz to think that she might be as important to the redhead as Mami had been, maybe even more so.

It made a small flame of accomplishment awaken inside her.

"Maybe you're right," Homura said. "But that doesn't tell me what I need to do now. That was my primary inquiry."

Junko took her turn, and suddenly she was stuck in three-way check again. "I won't pretend to know the answer to that. I think you are at a critical junction regarding your relationship to this girl. Whether it's driven by loss or not, she _is_ interested in taking things further. And based on your description of her, I doubt she'll be afraid to enter into something serious. The only thing she needs is your consent, and you know what that means."

"What does it mean?" Homura sighed, deciding to toss the game as she allowed her king to flee.

Junko smiled once again, and there was something a little mischievous behind it.

"It means you're in control of this situation," She said firmly, taking her turn. "Like this game of chess, she can't make any moves until you make yours first. So the choice is yours. Will you pull back your king...or let it fall into checkmate?"

Homura looked down and was slightly amused to realize that the game was over, obviously in Junko's favor. She hadn't invested much into the effort, so it failed to bother her. "So you're saying I determine how things go from here."

"Exactly." Junko reached over and patted her lightly on the shoulder. "We haven't known each other very long, Akemi, but I can tell you are a strong and responsible person. I trust you to make the best choice for yourself, and to decide whether my advice is worth anything at all."

"If your words mean nothing, then speech is useless."

The older woman laughed again. "I'm flattered. Well, it's been long enough now. I have to get going." She stood up from her seat, a frigid gust of wind making her stuff her hands into her coat pockets. "This will be a long trip, so we probably won't be seeing each other for quite a while."

"Good luck," Homura said earnestly. "And thank you," She added after a moment's consideration.

Junko winked at her and ruffled the girl's midnight black hair. "God, your story brings back memories," She suddenly said wistfully. "I remember the struggle I had with Tatsuya's father when it came to our marriage."

"What happened?"

"I wasn't going to marry him, at first. I was ready to take the business world by storm, and I thought having a spouse would only hold me back. Or at least, that's what my brain told me. It wasn't what I wanted."

Homura crossed her legs. "Which did you choose, in the end?"

"Isn't it obvious? I chose checkmate."

Then Homura was alone, looking down to realize that Junko had left her entire chess set behind. It didn't seem like a mistake the woman would make. She considered gathering them up and catching up to return them, and stood up to sweep the pieces into her arms, pausing to regard them a final time.

That was when she saw that she hadn't really lost, and Junko hadn't really won either. Her king was surrounded on all sides but one, about to be engulfed but not without a method of escape. If she so wished, she could pull back the king and continue the game.

Or simply ignore it, and choose checkmate.

_The choice is yours._

Homura snorted to herself and cleaned up the pieces, deciding to return them at a later time, so that she wouldn't need an excuse to speak to the woman.

Because she _did_ plan on speaking to her again.

* * *

><p>Kyouko knew she couldn't stay in bed forever.<p>

She stared up at the blank ceiling above her, blankets tangled around her legs, and the ceiling stared impassively back at her. She had woken up earlier to eat the sandwich Homura had so graciously left her, and collapsed back onto the couch afterwards to contemplate the meal. No tomatoes. So she remembered.

There was disadvantages to not going to school and being unemployed all at once. When she wasn't hunting demons, there was so much _time_. And it wasn't as if she did much with that time besides think and eat. But her mind was not one of a philosopher's, so it was mostly just the eating. Those were probably the only two things she could get paid to do, as they were her only areas of expertise. Eating and thinking. The world's first philosophical chef. She was going to make it happen.

Kyouko tried to will herself off the couch with that particular goal in mind, but it died out before she got anywhere and she fell back in among the cushions. Fuck the philosophical chef. Because on second thought, theorizing on the meaning of an orange's sphericality didn't really appeal to her.

Kyouko turned her head into a pillow and groaned. _What the hell am I even thinking about?_

She didn't really know, but she sure as hell knew what she _wasn't_ thinking about, and that was a certain Akemi Homura.

Stupid, stupid. She was so goddamn _stupid_. Part of her wanted to blame Homura was being so _enticing_, but Kyouko knew that was hardly a good reason for her agitation. She could say that it was just the grief sharing, that she wasn't in control, that her soul had acted without her jurisdiction. Hell, she could even claim that she was joking about the whole thing. But those would have all been lies, but the redhead knew that she never did anything unless she _wanted_ to.

_So I wanted to snog Akemi Homura. Okay, we can start from there._

There wasn't much to think about, actually. Kyouko wasn't one to lie to herself, and she knew that the idea of having something with Homura didn't exactly repel her. In fact, she found the concept intriguing at the very least. She just didn't know if Homura was even remotely interested. To sum it all up, she wouldn't mind if something of that nature developed between them, but she wasn't desperate enough to destroy their existing friendship over it.

Speaking of which, that wasn't going so well either.

Kyouko didn't know where Homura had gone this morning, but she figured the girl was just taking time to figure things out, like she was right now. She wondered what kind of conclusion the time traveler would reach, if at all.

Air. She needed some fresh air. Kicking her legs up and off the couch, Kyouko left her little cradle of comfort and strode straight for her door, scratching absentmindedly at her head as she reached for the knob and pulled it open.

It was way too bright outside and cold as hell, but she welcomed the change in her environment. It helped her to sharpen her relatively dull mind a bit. Not that Kyouko considered herself to be inherently stupid, but recent events had left her feeling a little at a loss. Closing the worn door behind her and leaning back against it, the redhead exhaled slowly and stared up at the gray heavens above her.

There was absolutely no one else on the street with her, but it was still early in the morning and she preferred to be alone.

_I hate this,_ she realized briefly, sticking out her tongue to catch one of the ivory drops falling lazily through the air. _I hate not being on the same page with her. _

But what page was that? She had to figure out that one first. Because kissing Homura had served to force her to face the truth. She had done her best to avoid coming up with the idea, but...damn it, she was _lonely_. She wanted someone. And if that meant becoming Homura's girlfriend, then so be it!

_Yeah, right,_ The redhead scoffed at herself, looking down at the slippers encasing her socks and the uncaring layers of frost beneath them. She wasn't the most polite of people, but she had to consider Homura's feelings too. The girl would almost certainly return with a choice decided upon, and that choice may very well be the one where they returned to the way they were before. But Kyouko knew she wouldn't be content with that. Not anymore.

_Maybe I should have just bought her some skates._

"Excuse me."

Looking up, Kyouko was surprised to see a tall, older looking girl standing before her on the sidewalk. She took a moment to blink and glance down both ways of the street. She hadn't even heard her coming.

"Um," Kyouko replied, straightening up. "Can I help you?"

The girl smiled at her, and there was a knowing glint in her eyes that Kyouko didn't like. "Well, I would hope so. Do you know where Mitakihara General is?"

"The hospital?" The redhead thought aloud, narrowing her eyes and pausing to give her time for examination. The girl had thin, almost pale blonde hair stretched back into a wild looking ponytail, but beyond that there was nothing distinguishing about her. In fact, Kyouko couldn't decide what the girl's face looked like.

She shook her head and wiped at her eyes, but the aberration did not abate. Then, realizing that the stranger was still awaiting her answer, turned and pointed west.

"That way," She said. "Big building, has the words on it. If you head in that direction you can't miss it, unless you're challenged in some way."

The blonde girl laughed at the crude remark. "I guess we'll find out if I am or not," She replied, turning away from the door. "Thank you."

"No problem."

And then Kyouko was alone again, and she still couldn't figure out what the girl's face had looked like.

_I must be tired._

* * *

><p>Homura closed her eyes and took a deep breath before the door of her house.<p>

She had made her choice during the walk home. She had anticipated that the decision would be a difficult one to reach, but in actuality it hadn't proven to be very difficult. This was the best choice for the two of them. She was sure of it.

Now there was only the doing.

Turning the knob, Homura pushed the door open, thinking in the back of her mind that the air by the threshold smelled oddly like the redhead, as if she had been standing there recently. Not that she had unwittingly memorized Kyouko's scent, of course.

She heard something crash when she closed the door behind her, as if the lone resident of the house had panicked at her return. Homura felt a small glow of relief. So Kyouko was as nervous as she was.

"Oh. W-Welcome back," The redhead stuttered when the time traveler emerged into the central room, standing behind the island of the kitchen with a mug of coffee grasped conspicuously between her whitening knuckles. Homura smiled awkwardly back at her as she replaced her scarf on its hook.

"How...how's the weather out there?" Kyouko ventured once again, gesturing out towards the small drifts of snow flecking the windows. It took her a moment to register the words, even after she had heard them.

"Oh. It was...fine," Homura replied slowly, as if each word were a land mine. "It's still snowing."

"Meteorologist said there might be a storm tonight."

"Really."

"Yes."

They both stood there like that, staring at each other as their respective minds raced for another meaningless topic of conversation. Then Kyouko's face changed as if she were remembering something she had forgotten, and the girl turned around and grabbed something before thrusting it into Homura's hands.

"What is this?" Homura asked in confusion, gingerly accepting the piping hot mug of liquid that she had been giving. It felt vaguely radioactive.

"Coffee." Kyouko cleared her throat needlessly loudly. "I, um...made you some coffee."

Choosing not to comment on how bizarre it was for the redhead to do anything for anyone, Homura proceeded with the common courtesy of taking a sip. Her taste buds blanched once she did. The brew was terrible.

"Is it...how is it?" Kyouko asked tentatively, gripping her mug harder, mug that Homura now noticed hadn't been partaken in just yet, giving the redhead's curiosity some authenticity.

She wiped her mouth with a finger and cleared her own throat. "It's fine. It's, um...it's good."

Kyouko looked so relieved it was almost embarrassing. "Oh, good. That's...good."

"Indeed."

More silence. Kyouko tried to fill it by taking a sip of her own coffee, her face twisting once she tasted it, and stared down at the counter in shame when she realized Homura's white lie.

This wasn't going anywhere, Homura thought. Unless one of them chose to say something, they would be standing here like this until they were elderly. And she hardly expected Kyouko to be the one to initiate a serious discussion between the two of them. Especially if poorly made coffee was the capacity of the redhead's communication skills. She would have to take the initiative.

Looking back up, Homura parted her lips to speak.

Unfortunately, Kyouko had the same idea.

"I just wanted to say-"

"About what happened-"

They both cut themselves off short, making Homura blush as she realized how ridiculous their situation was getting.

"You...you first," Kyouko offered, pausing to take a second sip but thinking better of it.

Good. She was being allowed to take the lead.

_You are in control of this situation. _She hoped Junko was right.

"About last night," Homura said, making sure her voice didn't sound as timid as she felt. "At the lake, what we did..."

Kyouko nodded vigorously, and Homura didn't know whether it was good or bad that she had the redhead so captivated.

She took a deep breath. "About what we did...can we, um...

"Can we forget that ever happened?"

Homura didn't know how to interpret the look that crossed Kyouko's face when she said that. The first word that came to mind was disappointment, but that didn't make any sense, did it? Suddenly, she was seized by the urge to take back what she had said, to reel it all the way in and strangle it while she came up with something better, and her mouth was opening against to just that when Kyouko interrupted her.

"Su-Sure!" The redhead said all too cheerfully, cracking a weak smile. "Let's do that. Whatever works for you. It...it was mostly my fault, anyways."

Anything Homura might said in her stead deflated at those words. Settling back a step, she tried her best to smile back. "Oh. Well, alright then. That works out, doesn't it?"

"Yeah."

They both shared a genuine laugh then, but it was obvious that it was a hidden way to release the pent up tension inside of their chests.

"I'm gonna go take a shower now," Kyouko proposed, looking much more comfortable with herself now that the albatross had passed. "Since you're playing hooky again, maybe we should watch that movie I told you about."

A real smile this time. "Sure."

Kyouko disappeared through the door with a small chuckle, leaving Homura to her own devices. The raven haired girl took a second sip of the coffee before spitting it back into its mug. It really was awful. But she didn't have to heart to say it the girl's face.

Still, she was glad that the issue had resolved itself so quickly. Homura didn't know how she would have handled being awkward around Kyouko for a prolonged period of time, especially considering how often they interacted with each other now. She had definitely made the right choice.

She dumped the remnants of the coffee down the sink. Yes, this was most certainly the right choice.

So why the hell did she feel so _empty_?

* * *

><p>"How are you feeling, Mami-san?"<p>

It was difficult for the blonde to discern whether to inquiry was an innocent one or a veiled one. She had been staying at Mitakihara General for a while now, and she knew that some of the staff were growing tired of the presence of someone who didn't seem to have any actual injuries anymore.

"I...I'm not sure, Cindy," She finally replied, feeling the brush combing its way through her hair pause for a moment when she spoke.

She could see it but, Mami knew that the nurse sitting cross legged behind her on the bed was probably smiling sadly. "Oh, Mami. You're unsure about so many things."

That comment was probably veiled.

"You've been cleared for release for three days now," Cindy continued, stroking the brush gently through her hair again. "Claiming emotional trauma will extend your stay for a little while, but you can't expect to hole up in here forever."

Mami pursed her lips. "Do you think I'm lying about my health?"

The brush paused again. "No," The nurse replied earnestly. "I believe that you're going through something difficult right now, and I can't claim to understand everything that you're dealing with. But even so, you can't stay here forever. You'll have to go out and face the world eventually."

Mami was glad to have gotten Cindy as her assigned nurse. There weren't many patients lately at Mitakihara General, so the staff had the luxury of allowing personal caretakers. She doubted that anyone else would have been as understanding about her situation as her, and for that she was glad. Cindy had apparently taken a small liking to the distraught blonde, and she was the main reason why Mami had been allowed to stay at the hospital for this long.

She traced a random pattern in the bedsheets. "It isn't like there's anyone waiting for me. What's the rush?"

"What about your friends? The ones who visited."

"I turned them away for a reason."

"But not because you wanted to," Cindy smiled, taking her last stroke with the brush and setting it aside. She slipped off the bed and circled it so that she was facing her patient, and Mami looked up to take in her flowing chocolate brown hair. "You still miss them, don't you? Both of them."

The blonde managed to meet the nurse's eyes for a only a moment before she stooped her head again. "Of course I do," She said through gritted teeth. "But the life I come from is rife with loss. And I don't want to lose them too."

"So you cut them off."

Mami nodded.

Cindy smiled softly and knelt by the foot of the bed. "Do you think it'll hurt less if you lose them at a distance, rather than up close?"

She traced more patterns. "Wouldn't it?"

"I don't know," The nurse replied, grasping the blonde's hands. "But if you ever change your mind, you shouldn't be afraid to reach out to them again. They're your friends."

But Mami shook her head. "It's too late for that."

Cindy's tablet flared to life, distracting her. The nurse turned away from her patient to pick up the plate-sized screen, tapping at its surface to call up the notification she had received. Mami watched her, vaguely curious.

"You have a visitor," She finally said, eyebrows raising slightly.

Mami narrowed her eyes. "Is it those two again? I thought I told the desk not to let them-"

"No, it's not them," Cindy interrupted her, tapping at the tablet again and squinting at whatever she had managed to conjure up. "Just a single person this time. A little older. Does the name 'Saki' ring a bell?"

Something struggled at the very depths of her brain, but it was gone before Mami could discern what it meant. But it still itched at her. "...No," She said.

Cindy furrowed her brow. "Really? Well, I'll tell her you aren't accepting any visitors, then. Seeing as you don't know her."

"Wait," Mami suddenly said, just as the nurse was about to dismiss the visitation request. "Actually..." She paused, wondering why she was doing this. "Let me see her," She said at last, clasping her hands together.

"I thought you didn't know her?"

"I don't," She answered truthfully. "Or at least, I don't think I do. I'm not sure. Just let me speak with her."

Cindy regarded her for a moment before shrugging and confirming the visitation. "Whatever you say. I'll give you two some privacy, then." She folded the tablet and left the room, clicking the door quietly closed behind her.

Mami couldn't explain exactly why she had so suddenly changed her mind. The name...it _had_ rung a bell, after all. Which bell, she had absolutely no idea. But it had shifted something inside of her, and now she was curious. Usually she was not one to let simple questions bother her too much, but this was refused to stop itching at the back of her mind. Not to mention that if she was going to be kicked out of the hospital soon, she might as well start making some new friends.

She heard footsteps approaching from the end of the hall, and knew that it must be her mysterious visitor. The blonde gulped, feeling suddenly apprehensive as the footfalls grew ever closer. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

But it was already too late, as she saw two thin shadows stretch out from under the door, telling her that whoever had come to see her was standing just outside. The knob clicked, and began to turn, and Mami instinctively braced herself for a surprise as the door was swung open from the other side.

A tall girl strode through it, completely unrecognizable.

Mami frowned at the grey light coming in through the window above her head and reflecting off the deep golden irises of the stranger standing before her. She looked her over, momentarily forgetting to say anything as she tried to remember where she had seen this girl before. Then it occurred to her that they hadn't. She didn't know her at all.

Feeling a little disappointed, Mami straightened up where she was sitting and said, "Um...may I help you?"

"Are you Mami Tomoe?" The visitor asked, and her voice send that same itch running across the blonde's scalp again. Squinting her eyes, Mami tried to examine the girl's face a little more closely but found that she couldn't. There was something off about it, something that kept her from discerning any particular facial features.

"Yes, I am," Mami said once she realized that a lapse had developed between them. She stared at the visitor again. "I'm sorry, but do we know each other?"

A strangely sad smile grew across the stranger's face. Or at least, she thought it did. It was oddly difficult to tell. "Yes, I suppose you could say that. You...don't remember me, do you?"

Mami gripped the bedsheets in her fists and tried her best to recall something, _anything_ about this totally random stranger who had invaded her hospital room, but came up with absolutely nothing. "No, I'm afraid I don't," She admitted, now feeling a bit uncomfortable at the surreality of the situation.

An ambiguous smile. "Yes...I suppose you wouldn't."

* * *

><p>Kyouko was feeling a little frustrated.<p>

She couldn't really explain why. But as she and Homura leapt their way across the rooftops in another fruitless search for demons, she knew that something was profoundly bothering her. As she touched down from another jump and prepared for another one, she tried to figure out what it was.

It turned out to be rather simple, as she had realized it a mere three leaps later. This agreement between them, this decision to bury what had happened the previous night, was utter bullshit. There was no way they were just going to "forget" about what had happened. How the hell did Homura expect her to forget her first kiss?

Yes, news flash, that _was_ her first kiss. Problem?

But it would be exceedingly difficult for her to try and turn the wagon around now, because she had so easily agreed to Homura's proposition. Whether it had been intentional on the shield-user's part of not, Kyouko was now stuck in a place she didn't see an immediate out of. She supposed that if they stayed like this for long enough, eventually the incident would fade from their memory. Was that Homura's plan? If it was, it would disappoint her more than a little bit.

But she didn't know for sure, and that was the part that pissed her off. Why did she have to be so damn _mysterious_ all the time? People often told Kyouko that she was easy to figure out, but she considered that to be a compliment. It was better than being as convoluted as a certain raven haired girl.

She had always known that about Homura, but for some reason it was irritating her particularly today.

Touching down on a high building, the redhead stopped for a moment to catch her breath. This was utter bullshit, too. They weren't going to find anything just by looking for a longer duration of time. She wished Homura would realize that already and wait until things changed, because there was nothing to accomplish as things were. But that was another stupid thing about her. She was the most paranoid person on the planet.

Turning her head to look out over the city, Kyouko spotted the sloped roof of Mitakihara General nearby. It was snowing like hell again, and the memory of the blizzard warning she had heard earlier flitted through her head. The metallic plating on its roof glistened briefly, as if beckoning her. She felt oddly compelled to comply. Something in her wanted to try a second time, to reconnect with a lost friend. Regardless of how badly the last attempt had gone, she didn't believe that Mami truly wanted to cut her off forever. She simply refused to accept it.

Turning on her heel, she leapt off the roof, heading for the hospital.

[_Where are you going?_] Homura asked through telepathy, sounding irritable herself, though Kyouko didn't care to wonder why. She had her own pissed-off-ness to worry about, so she didn't reply and simply continued to leap toward the hospital, not even bothering to check if Homura was following her or not.

Because she didn't care.

She really didn't.

Right?

* * *

><p>Homura was feeling a little frustrated.<p>

She couldn't really explain why. But as she sulkily followed Kyouko through the doors of the hospital and felt the chilled air inside rushing out to greet her through the sliding glass, she knew that something was profoundly bothering her. That same emptiness from before was still brooding in the pit of her stomach, and now here they were visiting the last person on the planet Homura wanted to see again.

The snow was falling more heavily outside now, as the evening slowly matured into night. The winds were getting stronger too, a precursor to the storm she had been warned about earlier. But she still preferred it to what they were about to do.

Their shoes clicked begrudgingly against the cold linoleum floors, the sound echoing off the walls of the otherwise empty lobby. Kyouko approached the front desk while Homura dropped back and waited in dark silence in one of the plastic chairs.

"Hello," The redhead tried to say politely when the receptionist looked with a bored expression up at her. It wasn't the same woman as before. "I'm here to see Mami Tomoe?"

The woman behind the desk muttered something about cheesecakes to herself before typing something into her computer, squinting at whatever came up on the screen as if it were extremely taxing on her vitality.

"What did you say your name was again?"

"I didn't."

"Can it. Do you want to see her or not?"

She sighed. It wouldn't do to take her anger out on a stranger. "Alright, sorry. Kyouko Sakura."

The woman pursed her lips and made a weird sound at the back of her throat. "Oh. Well, sorry, but you're on her blacklist. I can't let you through."

Something cold splashed in Kyouko's gut. "Come again?"

"She's specifically requested that you and your friend not be allowed to see her again. Nothing I can do, unfortunately."

"Oh, come on," Kyouko ground out irritably, dropping her palms on the counter with a dull thud. "She wouldn't do that. And even if she did, why would she?"

The receptionist matched her stare. "You expect me to know? She's not my patient. You can ask Cindy about that one. And besides, even if you were cleared for visitation you would have to come back later. She's meeting someone else right now."

Kyouko squinted. "Someone else? What do you mean someone else?"

"Someone else means _someone else_. Is it really that hard to wrap your head around?"

Five minutes and brief argument later, the redhead grumbled her way back to where Homura was sitting and plunked herself into a seat near the shield user, though she took care to leave at least once chair between them.

"They aren't letting us see her," She said needlessly.

"Of course they aren't. Mami _said_ she wouldn't be accepting visitors."

"Yeah, but that didn't mean she had to go and actually _do_ it."

"Oh, please."

Homura had, by this point, figured out what was wrong with her. She wasn't happy with her choice. She had chosen to avoid checkmate and it wasn't sitting very well in her stomach. Now the only question was why. Why didn't it satisfy her? She had been so sure earlier. But she didn't know, and not knowing always bothering her, but today it was really pissing her off.

Kyouko eyed her narrowly. "What's up with you? You've been salty since this afternoon."

"If you don't recall, I am not particularly fond of Mami Tomoe. And I am not _salty_."

"Yeah, right. You're so salty right now that you could shrivel up a slug with skin contact."

"Am I supposed to be offended by that?"

"It's your call."

It occurred to her then that they were practically shouting at each other in the otherwise quiet lobby, and realized that the receptionist was staring at them with an annoyed look on her face. But Homura hardly cared. Something was off with her today, she didn't know what, but she just felt so _frustrated_. Normally she would have taken Kyouko's nonsense in stride, but this time she would exercise zero tolerance.

"You've got your priorities all mixed up," She voiced aloud, letting the hard edge show in her tone. "We're supposed to be figuring out what happened to the demons, but here you are trying to talk with someone who doesn't even want to see you."

She heard Kyouko inhale sharply and knew she had struck a nerve. The girl really was too easy to read. "That's rich coming from you, seeing as _you_ were the one to come crawling back to _me._"

Homura remembered that day at the construction site all those months ago and gritted her teeth. "I needed to make sure that there were no more loose ends. Nothing more."

Kyouko snorted loudly and stood up out of her chair, so that she stood menacingly over the smaller girl beside her. "Oh, and I suppose all that jazz about filling each other's holes was _tying up loose ends_?"

"...Maybe."

Kyouko sneered. "You're such a bad liar, Homura. Why do you try to make everything so fucking _mysterious_? Why can't you just say things straight to peoples' faces for once? If you love hunting down demons so much then just go! Leave me behind and fulfill your stupid heart's desire. See if I care."

Homura stood up and kicked her own chair back, glaring at Kyouko as she pulled out her Soul Gem, which was flickering angrily. "Maybe I will."

"Go ahead, then."

"Fine."

"Fine!"

Spinning on her heel, Homura stalked out of the hospital, leaving a torrent of hideous anger in her wake. Kyouko watched her go, breathing heavily. Part of her expected to see the time traveler turn back and confront her again, to say how ridiculous this argument was and that they had to act rationally, which would have suited her. But she didn't, and soon enough the silhouette of Homura's back disappeared beyond the veils of falling snow.

"Well, that fell apart pretty quickly," The receptionist quipped needlessly, not even flinching when Kyouko turned and smoldered her with her gaze. The woman paused behind her computer before adding, "There really is going to be storm tonight, isn't there?"

Kyouko turned back to observe the pale sheets of snow against the pitch black night sky, as if the world were struggling between illumination and darkness.

"Yeah…yeah, I guess."

She retook her seat in the plastic chair, deciding she would wait this mysterious visitor out. She tried not to think about the girl who was now struggling her way through a blizzard.

_Idiot..._

* * *

><p><strong>The slice of life shall come, but I need to finish telling the stories I've started already. Which includes both Mami and the demon anomaly.<strong>

**I'm running out of synonyms for the word "snow".**

**Please leave any thoughts in the reviews!**

**~Banshee**


	12. Infinitesimal

Chapter 12: Infinitesimal

Homura's footsteps left deep indents in the thickening layers of snow, but her trail was quickly enveloped by the storm, as if the world were attempting to erase her from existence.

The winds were now ridiculously strong, and Homura opted to stall returning to her magical form and instead remained human, drawing her sparse coat around her person with a deep shiver. Cold streaks of flying ice slipped past her cheek, rubbing the soft flesh there raw with their speed. She couldn't see more than fifty yards in front of her, and the tails of her coat flapped wildly behind her like it had become the demons she was currently failing to locate.

Taking another few steps in a totally random direction, Homura noticed that she was the only one out on the street. Well, that much made sense. No one was stupid enough to struggle through a blizzard that they had been warned about properly in advance.

Well, except her, it seemed.

Homura huffed, the sound getting quickly swept away by the storm as she tucked her chin into her collar and forged onwards. Regardless of the conditions, she refused to return to the promising warmth of the hospital behind her. That would be one too many strokes on her pride. She was going to find a demon before the sun rose if it killed her.

_Kyouko's such an idiot_, She thought as she slowly made her way across the street before leaping atop the adjacent building. She almost immediately had to raise a hand to shield her face. The winds were even stronger up here. _Can't she see that I'm just worried? It's not as if I enjoy doing this all the time..._

But that was the impression she had given off, if the redhead's words were to be given any credit. And now they were on bad terms again, mere hours after making up. Breathing in shallowly, Homura narrowed her eyes and scanned the city sprawling out before her. She didn't know where to start. Having another person with usually made the work go so much faster.

They had already searched high and low wherever they could think to look, and she was running out of ideas. Every nook, every cranny of the city above the surface, every shadow and every cemetery they could find on a map. Homura shook her head and leapt back down to the street below her, deciding that she needed a higher vantage point. Just where had the demons _gone_?

Even as she tried her best to focus on the task at hand, half of Homura's mind remained on the girl who was probably sitting stubbornly under the cold lights of Mitakihara General. She knew that their argument had been over something petty, but the emotions behind it had been something else entirely. She had assumed that talking with Kyouko about the lake incident would ease their troubles, but the conversation had only served to place more stress on her mind. It didn't make any sense. She had dealt with the problem; why wasn't it abating?

It occurred to her that perhaps she was dealing with the problem incorrectly, but she pushed the thought away.

And why was Kyouko as frustrated as she was? She didn't understand that part either.

Homura growled to herself and shoved her hands into her pockets to keep her coattails from ballooning out behind her. She wasn't comprehending much of anything lately. It really irked her. Homura had used to be much better at handling adversity, but those had been strictly contained to combat situations, and as a result she was poorly versed in the mine field that was a friendship, and a friendship with Kyouko no less. Those were never easy. In fact, they were exceedingly difficult. So difficult that it made her want to open up a manhole and crawl into the sew-

The deep moan of the winds howling around her ears was the only audio for a while as Homura stopped in her tracks, her eyes going wide as something dire finally entered the depths of her mind. Looking down along the narrow alley she was trotting through, her violet eyes made out the thin outline of a chrome plated manhole, just barely sticking out over the thick coating of white.

Feeling her heart quicken, she pulled her hands out of her pockets and ran over to the metal circle, skidding to a stop just inches before it as she got down on one knee for closer examination.

_The sewers._ Of course! That had to be the answer. It was the one place they hadn't looked yet, because it had failed to occur to either of them. It was also the perfect setting for demon gatherings; dark, dank, and in this special case, mostly devoid of people. Ideal for stealth. God, why hadn't this made itself apparent to her _earlier_?

Crouching under the crushing pressure of the winds, Homura dug her fingers under the hefty rim of the manhole when another thought occurred to her.

The demons had been missing for weeks by now. If logic followed and the entire lot of them were waiting for her at the bottom of this hole, it probably wasn't the greatest of ideas to dive in without backup. But it wouldn't do to sit back and wait. She had to act now, before the situation changed again. She needed help.

The frozen edge of the disc was starting to burn her fingers, so she let it drop. Standing back up, Homura closed her eyes and expanded her consciousness. Her first instinct was to call for Kyouko, but she soon shied away from that idea. After mulling for a moment, she called on her only other option.

[_Kyubey!_] She mentally shouted, hoping the alien was within range. [_I need you here, now. I think I may have found the demons._]

Thankfully, there was a reply. [_I hear you, Homura. I'm on my way. Where did you find them?_]

She paused. [_I haven't exactly found them yet. But I have a hunch. The sewers._]

[_Ah. I suspected as much._]

[_What? Why didn't you say anything then?_]

[_I was busy. And you were less than cooperative at the time._]

Homura took a moment to think back to when she might have been angry with the furry alien, but realized that there were too many instances to count. Meaning that there was a good chance that Kyubey _had_ tried to tell her, but she had blown him off. Maybe even more than once.

She stood and waited in the middle of the street, drawing her coat as close as magically possible as she wavered like a stick in the grip of the wind. Thankfully, Kyubey emerged from a nearby alley soon enough and joined her by the manhole.

[_Down here?_] He asked, circling the metal circle carefully.

"Should be," Homura murmured, lifting the cover and rolling it over to expose the entrance to the sewers. A thin waft of the rotten rose up to meet her nostrils. She blanched at the scent.

[_You're going down there alone?_] Kyubey asked her when she slipped her legs into the hole and made as if to drop down. [_We should call Kyouko for backup while we still can. We don't know what's down there._]

"No, don't," Homura interrupted angrily. "I can handle this on my own."

With that said, she slackened her grip and shot down the length of the ladder, straight into the fathomless depths below.

Kyubey lashed his tail and followed suit.

[_If you insist._]

* * *

><p>Kyouko felt the annoyed glare of the receptionist burning into her back, but she ignored it.<p>

She was currently pacing back and forth across the floor of the lobby, hands clasped irritably behind her as her feet covered ground. She had been waiting like this for several minutes now, and a glance at the clock told her that it had been half on hour since Homura had gone running out into the storm.

During that time, the tempest had significantly worsened. The frigid turbulence was howling outside the thin windows of the hospital, making the shutters rattle ominously as the glass they rested on vibrated under the pressure. The man in the television mounted on the wall was telling everyone to not leave their homes because of the dangerous conditions.

Yeah, Homura was out in the middle of that. The girl really was a stubborn idiot.

Exhaling loudly through her nostrils, Kyouko spun on her heel and strode past the front desk, heading down the length of the first hallway.

"Oh, come off it, I'm just going to the bathroom," She snapped when the receptionist eyed her suspiciously.

She wasn't exactly lying. She _did_ go and use the bathroom, because being pissed off always put undue stress on her bladder (no pun intended), but sue her for adding a small detour to her trip back. Taking a different route on her return to her lobby, Kyouko navigated the halls until she was standing at the end of Mami's row, walking slowly forwards until she could quietly post up against the cold door with her ear pressed forward, listening intently.

She couldn't make anything out at first. Straining, Kyouko tried to pick up the last snatches of a conversation.

"_...never met before..?"_

_"__...If we...wouldn't...remember...ever mind."_

Then next thing she made out was the sound of footsteps clicking towards her, and her swore under her breath when she realized that she had fucked up. She hadn't expected the visitor to leave at that precise moment.

The door was pushed open from the other side, and Kyouko was send falling backwards by the impact, landing on her rear end as the opener of said door took a step forward only to have her foot collide against a certain redhead.

Looking up, Kyouko's eyes widened when she realized who the mysterious visitor was. Or...maybe she didn't? Either way, the tall, blonde girl standing before her looked awfully familiar.

"You-" She began to say, but the stranger quickly shushed her.

"Who is that?" She heard Mami call out from inside the room, sounding confused. "Another visitor?"

"No, no," The stranger said back over her shoulder, turning to block Kyouko from further few. "I just dropped something. Goodbye, Mami Tomoe."

"But you weren't carrying anyth-"

The door slammed shut.

Kyouko took the opportunity to scramble to her feet and dust herself off, grumbling to herself at having been saved by the person she had just been spying on. Taking a few steps back, she looked up again to find her person of interest smiling bemusedly at her. Probably.

"So," The girl said, in a voice that could have been anyone's. "You're the infamous Kyouko Sakura. I've heard many things about you."

"Uh," Was the only thing that came out of the redhead's mouth at the moment, still feeling a little flustered.

The stranger most likely smiled then. "I guess this isn't the best place for an introduction. Let's go somewhere else, and then we can talk."

* * *

><p>Kyouko gingerly handled the steaming cup of coffee that had been handed to her only moments prior. Raising her head, she observed the mysterious visitor ordering her own cup at the small cafe that operated at all hours, making small talk with the lone cashier. She wondered how she had gotten herself into this situation.<p>

The two of them were sitting in another section of the hospital that she hadn't been to before, occupied by nothing but the cafe bar and a smattering of tables and chairs. The chairs were plastic, and it hurt her already bruised ass to sit in them, but she wasn't about to complain when she had so much to be sorry for. And so many questions to ask. She would have to be careful about those.

As the stranger finished her order and made her way back to their table, the redhead stooped and took a sip of the coffee. Artificial brew. It was obvious in the taste and composition. She smacked her lips.

It still tasted better than her own, though.

"Sorry I took so long," The taller girl apologized as she set her own drink down on the table and took her seat. "Got caught up in conversation."

Kyouko could only nod imperceptibly, unsure of how she was meant to conduct herself.

The stranger smiled at her again. The redhead felt oddly small around her, and it wasn't just because of the height. "Looks like we got off on the wrong foot, although it seems we have met before...would you mind telling me your name?"

"Kyouko Sakura. Yours?"

Another smile. There were always lots of those. "Saki."

"Saki...?" Kyouko repeated, drawing out the final syllable in a way that ventured the divulging of a surname.

The girl placed elegant fingers on the table. "Just Saki."

"Oh."

The stranger nodded, and took a sip. "So, Sakura-san, I would imagine that you have many questions to ask me."

Hell _yeah_ she did. First of all, who the hell was this girl? How did she know Mami? Did Mami know her? Was she family? Friend? Foe? Just an acquaintance? Where had she been all this time? Scratch that, why was she here _now_? Why was this girl so damn mysterious? Why did that remind her so much of Homura? Why did that piss her off so much?

Blinking and realizing that she had gone off on a tangent again, Kyouko tried to get back on track. "Erm, well..." She stirred at her coffee with her wrist, but only managed to stain her sleeve brown. "How...how do you know Mami?"

"I'm family," Saki replied calmly, meeting Kyouko's eyes with her own colorless ones.

Kyouko frowned. "Excuse me for saying this, but Mami doesn't have family. Or she did, but they're all dead now."

"I'm sure that's what she told you. But I'm saying that is not really the case."

Kyouko pursed her lips and glanced down the hallway they had just come from. "Did you tell _her_ that? That you were family, I mean."

Saki took another sip from her coffee. "No. It would have given her undue stress. I just wanted to check up on her."

"Oh," The redhead replied unduly, leaning back and accepting the explanation before realizing that it actually made very little sense. Distance cousins or estranged aunts didn't just drop out of the sky at the most random of times. Well, actually they did, but this wasn't some goddamn anime. This girl had to be here for a reason.

Kyouko raised her cup and eyed Saki over the rim. "What...kind of family did you say you were, again?"

Saki seemed to give the inquiry some actual thought. "It's complicated," She finally said, setting her drink down. "But let's hope that I turn out to be the good kind of family. Are you a friend of hers?"

"...Yes," The spear wielder replied after a moment's hesitation. She didn't know if that title belonged to her anymore, but it was easier to agree than to try and explain her whole situation.

Besides, she didn't see the point in explaining herself when Saki was obviously hiding something as well.

The older blonde closed her eyes as if to focus her mental energies on the coffee. "Close friends...Mami was never the type. Well, I suppose time changes people. Mami will need people by her side to get her through this."

Kyouko narrowed her eyes at Saki over the table, chewing on the inside of her mouth as discreetly as possible. She didn't like this. Some part of her thought that this girl was lying about being family, and it was only the fact that she didn't know for sure that kept her from outright accusing Saki of deceit. Still, she found herself irritated, as if she had been cheated somehow, like a rug she hadn't been aware of had been pulled out from under her feet.

The redhead set her cup down on the table a little too forcefully, spilling several drops of cocoa liquid over the surface. The movement and sharp sound drew Saki's attention, as she watched her intently.

"If you really are family," Kyouko drew out, knowing that her hostility would feel sudden but not caring, "Why are you only here now? What about a month ago? What about _years_ ago? If you knew about Mami, and how alone she was, why did you wait until she was hospitalized to come check on her?"

Saki pursed her lips. "I have my reasons. Don't be so angry."

"I have my own reasons to be angry," Kyouko growled, squeezing the cup between her fingers and feeling it give a little. "I've had her back for years. How could you leave her alone for this long if you knew about her?"

"It's not as if I'm her sister or anything," Saki hissed back, suddenly pausing when she apparently realized that she had given away something about herself. Shaking her head, the girl said, "Things happened...circumstances made it impossible for me to contact her. I won't go into detail about any of that, not just yet."

Kyouko bared her teeth. "But you're _family_."

Saki's eyes narrowed, and suddenly her shrewdness was made clear as day, despite the shroud around the rest of her face. "I know that. But family isn't the solution to every problem. You, of all people, should know that."

The redhead's veins ran cold at those words, and the inside of her mouth went dry. Parting her lips, she tried to say something back in response, but failed and closed her mouth again instead. Those words. What was Saki implying? Could she...no. Impossible. This girl couldn't know of her past. But what else could there be, then?

Opening her mouth a second time, Kyouko finally managed to croak out, "What...just what are you trying to say?"

Saki closed her eyes. "Nothing. Just an inference."

Kyouko's nails scratched quietly at the edge of the table. There were too many unknown variables to keep track of. Reaching out with her consciousness, she tried to find any traces of magic and uncovered none. "If you can't tell me anything..." She trailed off, head whirling. "If you can't even tell Mami anything, then why did you come? If it was so difficult to see her until now, why even bother? If she doesn't even know who you are..."

Saki smiled, humorlessly. "She did know me, once. But that's different now."

"Maybe she would still remember you if you'd been there for her."

"Mighty words," Saki replied, staring down at her coffee. She spoke without anger and without emotion, making Kyouko feel like she was the one instigating the hostility around them. "Don't you have someone you should be with right now? Someone just as important as Mami?"

There it was again, that uncanny awareness of the situation. But it was said almost regretfully, like Saki didn't want to know what she did. It made Kyouko realize that the older girl didn't want to argue with her, but circumstances had somehow made it inevitable.

"How do you know about that?" Kyouko asked softly, not exactly expecting a straight answer.

Saki straightened up, and met her eyes. "I'm a very good listener," She said simply. "And very good at not being noticed."

For a moment then, the fog seemed to clear around her face, revealing the contours beneath with startling clarity. Kyouko saw a beautiful face, pale blonde hair pulled back, deep molten eyes, and a strange maturity in them. It was a face the redhead vaguely recognized. It was like the face of Mami Tomoe.

She really was family.

She blinked, and the fog was back, blocking her vision. Kyouko bit her lip as she waited for her mind to catch up, briefly realizing that where there had been none before, she could now feel magic infusing the air around them.

"I'd suggest that you go after her," Saki continued, the coffees now forgotten between them. "I waited two years; for you, it's only been two hours. Go now, before you're too late.

"Like I almost was," She added after a moment.

It was strange. The blizzard was supposed to be outside, but Kyouko felt the winter cold inside her chest, chilling her to the bone.

"Who _are_ you?" She muttered, half to herself.

Saki smiled, and this time there was humor. "Someone you can trust. Now go."

Kyouko stared back at the mysterious blonde for a moment longer, then slipped out of her chair and ran out the door, pulling on her jacket as she went.

* * *

><p>[<em>I don't like this,<em>] Kyubey voiced.

"Shush," Homura murmured as her footsteps clicked ominously against the aged chrome plating of the platform she walked upon. She tried not to think of how rare it was for the alien to express his own opinion on something.

Meanwhile, she also tried to focus on something else besides the smell. Mitakihara was, for all intents and purposes, a city of the future, but this term apparently did not apply from keeping trash from reeking. They had improved on everything else concerning sewage system, including the strength of the infrastructure and even distribution, but the endless tunnel stretching out before Homura still felt very much like a traditional sewer, dark and dank.

She forged onwards, holding the hand that contained her Soul Gem before her as the jewel glowed softly and lighted her way. A slow stream of water, pure or not she could not tell, flowed steadily beside her, only a thin metal railing separating her from a twenty foot fall. She followed the river of trash wherever it was going, making sure not to lose direction lest she become lost.

As she walked, she considered possibilities within her mind. Assuming the demons really had been holed up in here all this time, she had to be prepared to fight some enemies. Probably a lot of them. She would be unable to use her wings effectively within the tight confines of the sewers, and it was too dark to use her bow without increasing the chances of her missing more often than usual. That meant her guns and her time magic were her only viable weapons, but it had been so long since her last Grief Seed that she knew without checking that she was incredibly low on power.

The more she thought about it, the more her logical side was telling her to turn around and get Kyouko to help her out, but she repeatedly pushed the notion away.

Her footsteps ceased momentarily when she came to a crossroads. The walkway she was on split away to the left and disappeared into the encroaching blackness, and to her right, a fathomless set of steel stairs let down into the deeper levels of the sewers, further into oblivion.

After a moment's consideration, she took the stairs.

The weak illumination from her hand fell upon the walls once she descended, and Homura knew immediately that this section of the sewers was older. It wasn't exactly stone, but the designs were more rusted and twentieth-century. A haphazard array of wires crawled along the ceiling, following the manmade river of sewage still making its way into the earth. She paused for a moment, realizing that she had come this far running purely on instinct, then resumed her progress. She had nothing else to go on.

[_There are only exits to the surface on the first level of the sewers,_] Kyubey said as they walked. [_The deeper we go, the further we are from a possibly needed escape._]

"Who said we'll need to escape?" Homura murmured back, but there was little conviction in her words. The sound still echoed off the uncaring walls and came back to attack her ears, ringing more largely than they were in the darkness.

[_Nobody did. I am simply reminding you._]

After several minutes had passed, Homura found another set of stairs also leading down. She hesitated a little longer this time before descending. Her shoes clicked more soundly against the floor and she knew without having to look up that she had reached the third and final level of the sewers. The entire structure around her was a warped mixture of stone and metal, dating back many, many decades. These tunnels were old, and had received the least attention from the city during remodeling.

With the suffocating darkness crowding around her, she felt like an enormous hand were pulling her back in time, back to the inevitable beginning of the universe where she would no longer exist.

She took a moment and approached the crumbling railing to her left, and peeked down at the black river rushing by far below her. She wondered how far it ran. She didn't want to find out.

Exhaling slowly, Homura turned to continue her search when she felt it.

Freezing, the time traveler closed her eyes and refocused. There...yes, there. Faint, almost unnoticeable if she wasn't looking for it, but it was the unmistakable trace of despair. There were demons nearby.

Spinning on her heel, Homura quietly activated her shield and drew a handful of grenades before half jogging down the length of the stone tunnel, Kyubey following on foot this time. The moisture-slick walls twisted past her as she made her way deeper and deeper into the sewers, following the thickening path of despair that she knew would lead her to her prey.

Despite the new lead, it still took her another ten minutes of walking to pinpoint a specific location. Breathing shallowly out of her nose, Homura stalked her way through a completely different section of the river, her sense of direction by now thrown considerably far off. But she could worry about that later.

Narrowing her eyes against the faint light, she crossed a bridge extending over the river of garbage and approached a solid steel door set into the wall. Bending down and holding her hand up to a corroded plaque screwed in by the handle, she read its contents. _Storage and maintenance base._

Standing back up, Homura faced the door warily. This was it. The smell of despair wreathing through the air was so thick that it was rivaling the stench of the sewage rushing by twenty feet beneath her. If there really were demons left in Mitakihara, they were here.

Drawing in a deep breath, she kicked the door open.

What revealed itself to her on the other side made her soul pale.

Oh, she had found the demons all right.

All of them.

As she stood and watched in horror, the literal hive of demons huddled together in the massive cavern of the storage room shifted at the new disturbance, awakening slowly but surely. Her eyes skimmed frantically over the sea of white backs and shrouded faces. There had to be at least two, no, three hundred, perhaps even more. And Homura knew that this couldn't be all. That was just how many she could see.

Her eyes traveled beyond the demons, further into the caverns, and broke out into cold sweat when she realized that the hive continued for dozens of yards, each square inch covered with a manifestation of despair, packed so thick that it looked more like a single entity than a coalition of lesser beings.

And somewhere, hidden among this writhing mass, was the demon anomaly.

The demon slumbering closest to her foot snapped its empty eye socket open, immediately zeroing in on her.

Stumbling backwards, Homura's hand instinctively flew to her shield, and time ground to a halt around her.

Grabbing hold of the doorframe to steady herself, her mind went into overdrive as she frantically tried to deduce her next move. Glancing down at her arm, she saw that she had only had ten minutes of time-stop remaining. Ten minutes and counting. Opening a storage portal and taking a self-inventory, she almost swore when she saw that she only had a few firearms and a meager array of explosives at her disposal. She was severely unprepared. A fool. She was a blasted fool!

Looking back at the mess of demons frozen in space before her, she shivered when she inadvertently made eye contact with the one that had noticed her, its vacant eyes still fixed on her face. The painful truth had occurred to her that there was nothing she could do. To have come so far, but alone and unprepared. She had nowhere near enough resources and power to take on every demon in Mitakihara alone, and experience could only close the gap so much.

She bit her lip. It wasn't as if the demons were still unaware of her presence, either. She had, among her many other follies, failed to remember that the presence of a magical girl agitated demons more than anything. There was a reason why they targeted girls over regular civilians in battle. Just one more mistake among many.

Meaning there was only one thing she could do.

Homura backed out of the storage room and ran for her life.

* * *

><p>The angry storm outside had turned into a full-fledged blizzard.<p>

Kyouko had no idea what might have cause the tempest to worsen at such an unpredictable rate. Meteorologists had solved the problem of inaccurate forecasts years ago, and weathermen hadn't been wrong for years at this point. So it was perfectly reasonable that when she stepped outside the protective doors of the hospital, she was more than a little surprised to walk into a wall of ice.

Narrowing her eyes against the cutting storm-winds tearing at her jacket, she drew her clothes around her and employed a little magic to keep herself from freezing to death while she was out here. Standing still on the curb and expanding her magical radius, she tried to detect traces of Homura's movements. She picked up on the girl's trail almost immediately and began following it, battling her way through the blizzard.

The redhead gritted her teeth when the wind tore away her hairband and sent her crimson locks flying everywhere, shivering when the cold found its way to her now unprotected scalp. Everything beyond three feet of her was hidden behind an impenetrable veil of white, and as she walked the circle of clarity moved with her. She would have created a shield to block out the storm, but she was low enough on magic as it was. She couldn't afford to be frivolous.

Her conversation with Saki ran through her head for the fiftieth time. She had long since given up on solving the mysteries surrounding the blonde, but the surreality of their conversation was still galloping through her progressively frigid mind. She had somehow known about Homura, and their argument. She had known everything. Even about her family.

She was never going to figure out that part on her own. But Saki was right, she knew. Kyouko was still stinging from the fight that had occurred only hours earlier, and she didn't know if she was ready to admit fault or not. But she did know that Homura might be lost somewhere in the middle of a goddamn blizzard, and hell if she was going to let her friend freeze to death without someone to die with her.

Well, she was over thinking it. Homura had enough magic left to keep herself alive, of course. Anyways, she had to focus on finding the damn girl.

Shielding her face from the howling whiteout, Kyouko followed Homura's trail to the foot of a building, where it suddenly vanished. Momentarily confused, she cast about, straining to make out details past the walls of ivory around her. There were only the outlines of a few cars and a manhole. No traces.

Cursing under her breath, Kyouko was about to backtrack and try to rediscover the trail when something landed on her shoulder.

Reacting on instinct, she twisted around and tried to punch the foreign object off her person, but the alien riding her shoulders simply evaded the move.

[_Calm down_,] Kyubey scolded her. [_We don't have time. Homura's in trouble_.]

Kyouko froze and said something back, but her words were snatched away by the wind, so she switched to telepathy. [_Kyubey! Homura? Where is she?_]

[_This way_.]

The alien leapt down to the ground and began leading her down the street. Kyouko had to run to keep up, because Kyubey's fur coat made him virtually invisible unless she kept a close proximity. Eventually she settled on keeping her eyes fixed on the purple insignia burned into his back, bobbing before her like a beckoning specter of winter.

She thought about Saki again, and realized that finally, Mami might have found someone else to stand by her side. It made her feel like she had truly lost the blonde she had spent so much time fighting for. She couldn't repeat that mistake. Whatever happened, she couldn't lose Homura.

Or she'd have nothing left.

* * *

><p>Homura's footsteps were clicking across the floor again, but this time they fell much faster.<p>

Thick wreathes of miasma developing low against the ground whispered their way apart when Homura broke through them, thrown away by sheer momentum as the girl sprinted at as quick a clip as she could without burning out her muscles with magical overload. The aged walls sped past her as she fled, blurring together into one cohesive tale of escape, the need for freedom, the story of someone who dreaded death but had encountered it.

One more mistake of hers. She was deep, deep within the labyrinth of the sewers, and she didn't know if ten minutes would be long enough for her to get the hell out of here before the demons started coming for her soul. Even as she ran, Homura had to laugh at herself. Labyrinths. She was stuck in another one, even in this universe.

Her heels struck the first flight of stairs with a dull _clang_, and a moment later she was running through the second level. The river was still beside her now, frozen in time with its perpetual stench. At least it didn't smell like anything when it was taken out of time.

Opening several storage portals, she reached in and clutched at random pieces of equipment, tossing whatever her hand came into contact with behind her and littering her path with a myriad of explosives and automatic traps. She was going to run out of time after all. Measures had to be taken to slow the enemy.

As she crashed up the second set of steps, she swung her arm up and checked her shield.

Two minutes.

She was surely lost, but only vaguely. By taking the stairs she had managed to return to the level closest to the surface, but there was no way for her to tell which path would lead her back to the manhole she had entered through. She would have to leave through another one, then. Homura really didn't care. As long as she could get _out_. The walls were back to chrome plating now, and her footsteps echoed in a more metallic manner, as if the city were slowly welcoming her back into its fold. She kept setting traps.

Homura was still two hundred yards from the nearest exit when she felt the timer on her shield click, the sound ringing in her ears like the death call of a greedy siren. Almost immediately color washed back into what had been black and white, and the river of garbage began roaring forward again. The feeling in the air changed, too. She didn't have to look, because she could sense the despair thickening as literal thousands of demons awakened from their slumber, groaning and clawing and climbing up over each other, starved of souls for so long and hungry as they crashed through the tunnels and came after her-

She heard a deep rumble below her, and knew that her first wave of traps had been triggered. She grunted in her sprint. They were moving more quickly than expected. She pushed herself to run faster, heels sparking with crudely distributed magic and sending purple shadows leaping across the walls like banshees.

Another rumble, closer and more profound this time. The second level of traps. It had occurred to Homura while setting them that the explosions might cause an entire section of the city to fall into a sinkhole, but she hardly had to time to worry about that when she was literally running for her life. The explosions stopped, and Homura knew that all of her precautionary measures had been exhausted. Now nothing stood between her and a wave of death. All that mattered now was how fast she could run.

She was a hundred yards from the nearest manhole when she felt the demons emerge onto the same level as her. Falling into the trap of yet another mistake, Homura made the poor judgement of looking back, giving into the morbid curiosity which drove her to do so.

She immediately wished she hadn't. A flood of sick-looking white monsters was swamping down the length of the tunnel towards her, spilling over the railing due to their sheer numbers and falling down into the pit where the river ran, but even that space was quickly choked to fullness as more and more demons added to the congestion. There must have been more, many more, hundreds of thousands more crowded on the levels below, and it was only the narrowness of the tunnels that had kept them from all catching up so far.

Homura almost cried in relief when she saw a small pillar of light streaming down from the manhole. Digging her heels into the walkway, she used her momentum to leap high into the air, summoning her wings for a brief second for that extra bit of altitude as she lashed out with one arm and grabbed onto the last rung of the ladder that led to the surface, to freedom, to salvation.

The ladder was rusted through and peeling, cutting into Homura's palms as she gritted her teeth and hauled herself up with her upper body strength alone, ignoring the sharp stabs of pain lancing down her wrists. She finally rose high enough to get one of her toes on the rungs, and she all but lunged her way up the ladder, gasping with watering eyes as the stench threatened to smother her before she pushed forward and felt her fingers graze against the manhole-

Then out of the blackness and into the whiteness, as Homura's head emerged only to be engulfed by the force of a massive snowstorm.

The change in her environment was so sudden that it tore her breath away, and she actually slumped over the edge of the hole for a moment as she gasped to recover her stamina. Then the adaptive part of her that had kept her alive all these years kicked in, and she hauled herself onto the surface and kicked the manhole back in place, before quickly placing several raw magical barriers over the circle of metal.

They wouldn't hold long. Two more minutes, if she was lucky.

Homura jumped when she heard something crash against the underside of the manhole, and the chrome disc began rattling violently in its place, held back only by the purple strings of magic she had placed over it. Motivated by this sound, Homura bowed her head and sprinted away from the street, not caring which direction she went in as long as it was _away_.

Her footsteps crunched now rather than clicking as the time traveler struggled blindly through the snow, her thin frame swaying precariously in the wind. She couldn't see two inches in front of her blasted face. The tempest cut straight through her depleted magical armor and struck her straight on the bones, dropping her body temperature to extreme lows almost immediately. Homura tried her best to keep on running, knowing that it would keep her from contracting hypothermia, or something much deadlier.

She didn't get very far before the demons broke through her bonds. A little mental snap told her that her defenses had been shattered, and Homura turned to see the faint outline of a manhole flying away, flung over the top of buildings by the force exerted upon it.

Under that, a growing column of demons, swirling in a vortex like they always did. Their numbers were staggering, even as she watched from this distance; there were already more than there were the night Kiku had died, and there were more coming. Many, many more.

Panic finally began to set in as Homura continued to run without direction. She was essentially out of any sort of magic now, short of healing any possible injuries, and it would be several minutes before she had the energy necessary to stop time again. Her bow was an accuracy weapon, useless against hordes like this. Her firearms were too weak and too few. The winds were too strong for her to fly.

She had so many tools, and all of them were useless to her.

Homura slowed to a jittering walk as her muscles finally gave out, unable to operate after all the magic she had run through them to get this far so quickly. Her legs were burned out. Gasping for breath as she fell to her knees and the snow swallowed her up to her hips, she wondered how so many things could have gone wrong in such quick succession. Only two hours ago she was combing the city to find just one demon, and now here she was fleeing like hell from a hundred thousand of them. It was borderline ridiculous.

Rising from the drift, she tried to take a few steps, but it felt like her knees had been replaced by gelatin, and she collapsed back into the snow. Homura swore and punched the powdery crystals in frustration. She hadn't meant for things to turn out this way. She had just wanted to show Kyouko...she just wanted...for her...

Closing her eyes, Homura wished at that moment that she wasn't so alone, in a world that had turned its back on her.

_Kyouko! Kyouko!_

But of course, there was no answer.

* * *

><p>There had to be something supernatural about this storm.<p>

Kyouko's legs felt numb and detached from her person as she trudged through the piles of snow standing in her path. She was fully transformed into magical girl garb by now, and though her crimson coat helped to raise her body temperature it still left her calves unprotected. Kyubey, noticing that she had slowed down, reduced his own pace so that they wouldn't lose each other.

It didn't add up. Massive blizzards didn't just roll into heavily populated areas out of nowhere. Something was causing this. Based on the context of her search at the moment, she could only assume that it had something to do with the demons. Maybe Homura had found them after all.

The redhead looked up with narrowed eyes again, only to notice that Kyubey had stopped dead in his tracks. She crossed the distance between them quickly and squatted in the snow beside the furry alien, hugging her knees and shivering thoroughly. Her unbound hair kept whipping in the wind, but she gave up on trying to secure it.

[_The trail goes cold here,_] Kyubey explained as he lashed his tail, his long hooped ears flapping behind him like flags. [_I don't know why. Something is contaminating Homura's magical signature. I can't determine her direction anymore._]

Kyouko pursed her lips, forgetting the cold for a moment. She reached out and brushed the snow beneath her fingers. [_Could it be miasma? It has that affect._]

Kyubey shook his head. [_I'm not sure. That would mean that demons really are back in Mitakihara, but there's no evidence of that. Either way, I don't know where to go from here._]

[_Well, we should at least try and look-_] Kyouko abruptly broke off when a third, very familiar, presence broadcasted its mental wire through hers.

[_Kyouko! Kyouko!_]

[_Homura!_] The redhead shouted, rising to one knee as she spun in a circle, trying desperately to locate the source of the sound. [_Are you alright? Where are you?_]

But the mental connection was already severed, lost somewhere in the storm.

Kyouko cursed and kicked a clump of snow into the air, where it was quickly swept away by the winds. So close, and so far...how the hell was she supposed to find her like this? She was about to kick more snow around when she paused, feeling something tingling at the end of her mind.

Of course. Homura's signature.

She spun on her heel and started running in a seemingly random direction, Kyubey wordlessly pursuing her, inferring that the girl had figured something out, which she had. She couldn't communicate with Homura just yet, but their brief mental connection had divulged the time traveler's general location to her.

_I'm not my way, Homura._

* * *

><p><em>Shit!<em>

Her mental curse was almost drowned out when a searing bolt of energy blasted into the ice a mere five yards to her right, searing the crystals into water instantly and sending a column of steam hissing into the air. The demon who had fired the shot screeched in frustration when it realized that it hadn't hit anything and circled back towards the main pack, already charing another attack.

The demons hadn't exactly found her yet, thanks to the disorienting affect the storm had on all of them, but they had picked up on her general location. And when their numbers were so great, it made sense for them to start taking potshots. If a hundred thousand of them fired beams in the same direction, one of them was bound to hit something. That something being her.

Homura shook off the snow that had rained over her head as a result of the explosion and kept running, relying solely on the energy held within her fragile human body. She had no more magic to spare in combat. Around her, countless beams of malicious energy rained down upon the city, as if it were hailing on top of everything else. Most of them missed by a wide margin, but quite a few struck the ground near her by sheer luck, sending more chunks of ice flying into her face.

She had no idea where she was running anymore. She couldn't even see where she _was_ anymore. It had occurred to her several minutes ago to kick down the door to a building and hide inside, but now the storm was too thick to find any buildings. Besides, what would she do once the demons tracked her there? She didn't want to get innocents killed.

Stumbling blindly through the cold, Homura wondered if this was how she was going to die. All of her magical weapons taken away by simple bad luck, and the biggest horde of demons in history on her ass. What a way to go.

Another bolt blasted into the ground in front of her, and Homura barely altered her momentum in time to avoid getting melted on the spot. Instead she took the force of the impact on her side and went flying, crashing into the deep grip of a snow drift several yards away, the impact smashing the wind straight out of her lungs.

Homura gasped and her eyes went wide for a moment, a ringing sound in her ears as her vision spun dizzyingly around her. Her body had struck the snowdrift and tunneled itself deep inside, and she was surrounded on all sides by the suffocating ice. For a moment, she considered closing her eyes and sleeping there forever.

Then she blinked and shook her head, dragging herself out of the snowdrift. This was not how she wanted to die.

Once she kicked herself back to the surface, she saw that the cloud of demons in the distance was gaining on her, slowly but surely. A storm within a storm. Black in white. The rotten core.

Breathing in through seared lungs, Homura kept running.

A few moments later she felt something crunching beneath her feet as she ran, but she thought nothing of it and forged on. Then her foot struck something harder, not snow anymore but solid _ice_, slippery and unforgiving as always. Taken by surprise at the sudden change in terrain, Homura lost her balance and fell to the ground, sliding several yards on the expanse of frozen water.

Groaning and rubbing at her bruised elbows and knees, Homura looked up and realized that she was at the center of the lake.

She hadn't been able to see where she was running, and had unwittingly stumbled right into the frozen heart of the city. Homura gritted her teeth and got back on her knees, then tried to rise to her feet before collapsing again onto the ice, her legs burning. She had been running for what felt like an eternity, and she was exhausted.

Flopping over onto her back and gulping in huge gasps of breath, her chest heaving, Homura looked up at the maelstrom of white flakes whirling all around her. She had lost her coat to the wind earlier, and now the cold sank its teeth into her exposed arms and legs, drawing her closer into its frigid embrace. It made her want to give up.

Another chorus of screeches in front of her, and Homura looked past her feet to see that the torrent of demons was much closer now. Of course they would be. Much easier to catch up to a target when it wasn't moving.

She let her head drop back onto the ice with a dull thud, still struggling to catch her breath. It had been a mistake to overcharge her body with so much magic while running. Then again, she might not have made it this far otherwise. Not that it mattered anymore.

Homura knew that she had to keep running if she wanted to live. The flood of demons had broken the line of buildings surrounding the lake, and the despair pouring from them was so thick that it was making her woozy. Another thirty seconds and they would be upon her, and she had no magic with which to fight back.

But she was so _tired_. She had never been this exhausted before. Even in her countless battles with Walpurgisnacht, she had never been this drained.

All she could do now was hope for a miracle.

She closed her eyes.

_Kyouko..._

[_HOOMMUURRRAAAAAAAAA!_]

Eyes flying open a split second later and looking up just in time to see a streak of beloved crimson flying through the air, arcing through the snow-dirtied sky before descending upon her. Kyouko Sakura landed on the ice beside her so hard that the thick surface cracked slightly, stumbling down to one knee as her body absorbed the impact. Homura could only stare, eyes peeled back as wide as they could be, still too stunned to say anything as the redhead scrambled over to her, yelling something over the storm.

"God! Homura, I thought you were-"

Her sentence was cut off as she looked towards the opposite bank and paled when she saw the demons bearing down upon them. Moving almost entirely on instinct by this point, Kyouko dropped everything but her spear and threw up her hands, summoning a barrier around the two of them.

A second later, the demons hit.

Kyouko, who had been standing at the very edge of the shield, gasped when the force of the impact sent her tumbling back to where Homura lay sprawled at the center. Meanwhile, a literal wall of demons roared and thrashed at the redhead's defenses, pushing forward with a strength that made their souls falter.

The spear wielder snarled and regained her footing, rearing back and sweeping her spear through the first wave of enemies. Dozens of demons exploded into nothingness as she spun again and again, managing to push the line back another step before more demons simply arrived to fill the gap. Kyouko took another step back and began limiting her attacks, instead deciding to focus more of her energies on maintaining the barrier, which was eating away at her already sparse stores of magic.

This was bad. She barely had the juice to keep this shield running for another two minutes, and that was being optimistic. The demons were so many, so staggeringly many that it felt like the two of them were in a crimson bubble that had sunk underwater, and the ocean around them had turned black and white. She could not see the moon, or even the snowstorm that was currently hiding it from view. Nobody knew that they were out here, not even Kyubey, because she had lost him while she sprinted here. Homura was down, and she was about to follow suit.

The wave of despair reared back and smashed against the walls again, making Kyouko groan and fall to one knee. She raised her arms and slashed again with her spear, ridding herself of a dozen more demons, but it was all moot when there were so many _more_.

Ragged breathing behind her. Turning her head, Kyouko saw Homura dragging herself up into a sitting position. She wanted to yell at the raven haired girl to get down, to let her handle this, but how was she supposed to live up to a promise like that? It was only a matter of time until her shield failed and they both died.

She went back to hacking with her spear, but found her progress once again impeded, this time when Homura reached forward and grabbed onto her sleeve.

[_Don't die here with me,_] She told her, through badly flickering telepathy. [_Leave, while you still can. While you still have power...I don't want us both to die. If it has to be one, let it be me..._]

"Shut up!" Kyouko roared, shaking the girl off and delivering another flurry of strikes with her weapon, a deranged fire burning in the pits of her eyes. "We're getting out of this together!"

[_Kyouko..._]

"I said shut up! I'm not leaving you!"

As the redhead delivered her words of denial, Homura stared up at her from her position against the ice, eyes filled with wonder. She could see all of it, the magic glistening through Kyouko's form, the lethal intent behind her spear, the endless cacophony of the demons clawing at her barrier. Her ponytail was loose and her locks flew free with the wind, and her face was cut by demon claws and pieces of ice.

Her eyes were the ones of someone ready to lay down their life.

How could Homura ask someone like that to leave her to die?

Gritting her teeth, Homura opened her last storage portal and pulled out one of her last remaining pistols, aiming the gun at the whirlwind of demons a mere five yards from her leg and firing with wild abandon, not even having to aim because there were so many viable targets.

The two of them fought like that for a moment, Kyouko with her ever weakening spear and Homura with guns that barely had any ammunition, caught in a perpetual instant of struggle that encapsulated them both completely and impossibly.

Then things changed. Something inside of Kyouko let go, and for a second the crimson orb around them flickered. It was just a brief slip, almost minuscule, but it allowed two demons to lunge past the gap and slash Kyouko from shoulder to hip.

Homura heard Kyouko scream and turned to shoot the two infiltrators, her last bullets pinwheeling through their already dissipating bodies. But it was too late. The redhead stumbled to the ice and clutched at her chest, hands shaking at the blood already staining the snow beneath them. Homura tried to crawl over to help but she was thrown off again, as Kyouko groaned and stood back up.

"I'm fine," She growled, lifting her spear again as more blood splattered from her wounds, magic already sparking over them. "I can...I can keep going."

Feeling the beginnings of tears clouding her vision, Homura looked back at the demons and realized that something was different.

They were pulling back. No...they weren't. The rush of demons was roiling back in on itself, tumbling away from the edges of the barrier not unlike the way tide tide receded from a beach. They clumped together and rose higher into the night sky, more of them joining into the coalition as the group continued to ascend, until they finally reached the apex of their arc and began to fall.

Homura's eyes widened, and Kyouko actually whimpered. So that was their plan.

The column of demons rushed down upon them like a mighty hammer, moving faster than the eyes could follow and crashing straight through the ice.

The entire ice sheet buckled underneath the two of them, and before Kyouko could grab Homura they were thrown into the air by the impact, the world rotating like a kaleidoscope around her. More demons regrouped and crashed through other sections of the lake, breaking up the ice, making the platforms that they stood on rise and fall with the suddenly choppy water.

Kyouko hit another free-floating ice floe hard, feeling a sharp lance of pain drive through her skull. Biting her tongue so hard that she drew blood, she looked through blurred eyes for Homura.

There she was, also just starting to pick herself up, on another floating chunk of ice several meters away. Kyouko scrambled to her feet and screamed the girl's name, already running to dive into the water.

Homura heard her and extended one arm in her direction, as if desperate to be with her.

One heartbeat later, the demons broke through the ice from beneath her.

Kyouko's heart stopped as she watched the demons, which had remained hidden under the water, crash through the bottom of the ice floe, sending the entire thing flying apart as if it had been subjected to an explosion. Homura was caught up in the impact and sent spinning through the air again, arcing over the surface of the lake before splashing into the frigid waters, out of sight.

Part of her waited for the girl's familiar black haired head to emerge from the waves, spluttering and gasping, but still very much alive. But this never happened.

That was when she remembered.

Homura couldn't swim.

Kyouko's coat was torn off and thrown aside a second later.

"HOMURA!"

* * *

><p>It was blissfully cold around her.<p>

A strange feeling, certainly, Homura thought as she sank slowly to the bottom of the lake, watching the remaining air in her lungs leave her through the bubbles rising steadily towards the surface. Escaping from the blackness of the sewers into the whiteness of the storm, and now back into the blackness, it was so blissfully cold...

She remembered reading something somewhere, as her eyelids drooped halfway down and brought the blackness a little bit tighter. She remembered reading somewhere that before a person died from cold, they experienced an intense warmth inside their bodies. That very warmth was permeating her soul at that very moment, but to her, it wasn't that the coldness of the water was killing her.

It was the coldness of the world.

Homura almost smiled as she watched the water fight itself above her, and the demons fighting themselves beyond that. She had always known that being a magical girl would likely end in her untimely demise, but she hadn't expected it to come at such an inconvenient time. Not when she had finally found someone she cared about in this universe.

Suddenly the water broke above her, and that very person was swimming down towards her.

Kyouko was screaming something at her, but it was lost in the thickness of the water. Bubbles were streaming out of the redhead's mouth as she shouted unintelligible things; it was almost comical. But the redhead didn't seem to realize this, as she kept swimming after her, the ruby in her chest flickering weakly.

Such an inconvenient time, Homura thought again, as she raised an arm and reached out for Kyouko once again. Such an inconvenient time. Why was it that it took extreme conditions for humans to realize the most basic truths about themselves? Why was it that she had to die to know how she really felt? All the emotions that had been riding inside of her until this moment, this moment of her demise, had gone uninterpreted until now. And she deeply regretted having failed to see the answer much earlier.

For in that infinitesimal moment, surrounded by the closing grace of the lake where it had all begun, Homura knew that she could have loved Kyouko.

And she was going to die before she could even say anything.

A glaring light was shining behind Kyouko's back, and Homura didn't know what it was. But it didn't matter anymore. Nothing would matter anymore, once this was all over. The light grew in strength and intensity, growing so bright that it almost swallowed up Kyouko's form in its brilliance. Once again, Homura wondered what it could be.

Maybe it was the pathway to the afterlife.

Closing her eyes, Homura fell asleep wondering if she would awake with her first love or her second.

* * *

><p><strong>Please leave any thoughts in the reviews. I am sure there will be many this time.<strong>

**~Banshee**


	13. Confessions

** plamsa: prepare to be disappointed**

**Everyone else: enjoy**

* * *

><p>Chapter 13: Confessions<p>

She was surrounded by nothing, and everything.

Whiteness. That was the only way she could possibly describe it. Something of substance that felt empty to the touch. Present, certainly, undeniably there. Just not entirely.

There was nothing else to see but this whiteness, as it stretched out for eternity before her eyes. She was standing but couldn't see or feel the rest of her body. There was the ability to look around but not the desire to fuel it.

She was standing beside someone.

Something wouldn't let her turn to look, but Homura knew she was there. A specter of the imagination, as intangibly tangible as the whiteness surrounding them, levitating almost peacefully at her side, in peace. In complete contrast to her own turbulent soul. Homura knew the sensation of this presence.

She had felt it once before, in a world that was no more.

She seemed to blink. [_Madoka?_]

A brief glow of recognition. [_Homura._]

She didn't know what to feel. Especially when so much thought had gone into this moment. All the worrying, the hoping, the despair that inevitably followed-all of it was culminating here, in this instant, where Madoka Kaname was finally standing beside Homura Akemi. There were so many options, so many possibilities regarding her emotions that she could only manage a dim acknowledgement, as if she were meeting a half stranger.

[_Where am I?_]

Homura couldn't look yet, but somehow she knew that Madoka was staring at the apparent floor before them. Her own eyes flitted downwards.

That was when she saw it.

The demon anomaly, sprawled across the colorless floor. It was a monster, certainly, but it didn't assume the common form of its lesser brethren. In fact, its resemblance was disturbingly human, as if it were becoming the very people whose despair had spawned it.

It was the size and shape of a young girl, stooped over and injured.

As Homura watched, it spasmed and groaned, twitching its head back and heaving a dry cough. A wad of black blood flew outwards and stained the nothingness, more blackness against the whiteness. Homura was growing tired of that.

She couldn't tell if the anomaly had pink or red hair.

[..._Am I dead?_] She asked this time, after the two of them regarded the demon for several seconds. She half expected for her inquiry to go ignored again, but this time there was a response.

[_Not yet._]

This wasn't the same girl who had sacrificed herself to save the universe. No, this was something else. Something _divine_. It was both awe inspiring and terrifying at the same time. It wasn't human; it wasn't even magical.

They went back to watching the anomaly. It gurgled something unintelligible and stretched out a clawed hand up towards them, as if begging for mercy and assistance. Its face kept switching back and forth, back and forth, between the two people she kept closest to her corroded heart.

Surprisingly, the Goddess initiated their next words.

[_Do you want to be?_]

Homura glanced back down at the anomaly again, as if asking it for a second opinion. The monster simply stared back up at her, its face now perfectly split down the middle between the two extremes. One pink iris, one crimson.

Both eyes weeping black tears.

[_No. I have things left to do._]

For a moment, she thought she felt the Goddess smile.

[_I thought you might say that. The Cycle will bypass you, today._]

A wave from a gloved hand, and the whiteness took her.

* * *

><p>Kyouko's eyes spun dizzily in her head.<p>

Her memories of the last sixty seconds were shot. She only vaguely recalled grabbing onto Homura at the bottom of the lake, and then an intense light had overtaken her. After that...it was up to question.

Someone must have dragged her out of the water, though, because as her head lolled to the side she saw that she was being dragged back up the far bank of the lake, the frozen stalks of grass cracking underneath her weight. The person holding on the edge of her hood was yelling something, but her head was still throbbing from oxygen deprivation. She couldn't tell what the words meant.

The only thing she could focus on, really, was not letting go of Homura's hand.

Their progress slowed, and abruptly Kyouko felt their rescuer drop her onto the ground. She fell like a body bag, chest heaving incoherently as her eyes rolled around in her head. The sun wasn't out, but there was still a crazy glare in the corner of her eye. Had the star fallen out of the sky?

Hands grabbing her by the shoulders, dragging her into a sitting position.

Kyouko's eyes flicked up, and she took in the completely unclouded face of Saki...no, just Saki. Or at least, she would recognize the face in hindsight. The older girl was yelling something in her face, but she couldn't piece the sentence together. The redhead simply stared dumbly at her, eyelids drooping. Something about running. And time.

So little time...

The blonde reared back and struck her across the face.

Gasping as the pain rushing through her brain activated her survival instincts, Kyouko felt her irises dilating as the world suddenly returned to sharp focus around her.

"Kyouko!" Saki growled again, shaking the redhead violently. "Listen to me, god dammit! We need to get out of here!"

The redhead blinked in shock at the blonde, cheeks stinging with the combined element of the slap and the storm still howling around them. She turned her head to the right and saw a massive ball of light hovering above the center of the lake, and understood why she had thought the sun had fallen. The demons were circling around the orb, as if strangely captivated by it.

"That won't buy us much time," Saki said insistently, already hoisting Homura's limp form onto her shoulders. "We need to run. _Now._"

Kyouko simply nodded violently, still finding vocal communication to be beyond her grasp. Saki took off running in the opposite direction from the lake, and she did her best to stumble after the older girl, fixing herself onto the blonde's radiating magical signature.

Behind her, the whirlwind of demons screeched in unison, still circling around the hovering ball of light.

Kyouko knew that this was not the time for questions that would go unanswered. There was only follow, follow, follow. Follow or die. Or at the very least, follow because Saki now had Homura slung over her shoulders, and hell if she was going to let that girl out of her sight again in this lifetime. Her boots crunched dully in the snow and her jacket rippled in the wind around her form, as her body had automatically switched her back into human form the instant she consumed too much magic. She wasn't even using her eyes anymore, instead blindly following Saki's trail through the blizzard.

The blonde suddenly stopped, which allowed Kyouko to catch up to her, still gasping for breath. Reaching under her shirt and pulling the hand back out, she saw the crimson staining her skin and winced. She knew that if she turned around she would see her trail marked with red.

[_Shit,_] Saki muttered. [_Can't see a damn thing in this storm...we need to find a building...but no buildings around here..._]

She started running again, some sort of hidden strength towing Homura along. Again, Kyouko followed.

It was another five minutes of fleeing before Saki stopped again, and this time it wasn't out of uncertainty. When Kyouko caught up with her, the girl was standing in front of the side of a large house, one hand placed against the wall. The blonde seemed to be concentrating intensely, but the redhead was too exhausted to scrutinize for more details. All she wanted was to get Homura somewhere safe, and then collapse.

[_There's no one in this house,_] Saki said triumphantly, stooping to set Homura down on the snow. The smaller girl was still unconscious and barely reacted to the cold powder pressing against her face.

Stumbling forward unsteadily, Kyouko knelt and picked the time traveler up in her arms, even when her tired biceps screamed in protest. The complaining could come later.

Raising a single fist, Saki summoned a ball of crude magical energy around her hand. It was an ability common among all of them. Rearing back, the blonde struck through the storm and broke through the glass in one of the side windows, reaching inside to pull it open completely before crawling inside.

Kyouko would later remember having expected something a little more sophisticated.

But beggars could not be choosers. Dragging Homura to the side of the large house, she pushed the girl through the small opening, where Saki received her. Then the blonde reached out for Kyouko's hands, and the redhead gladly took them, welcoming the darkness that enveloped her when she entered the building.

* * *

><p>"Clear the table," Saki ordered tersely when the two of them swept into the living room, Homura's cold form still hanging dearly for life on her back. There were no lights on inside the house, and it truly seemed to deserted, the only illumination coming from the whiteness of the snow outside.<p>

Running on adrenaline by this point, Kyouko grabbed the corner of the table sheet and yanked on it, pulling a hail of plates and forks to the floor, much of the ceramics shattering upon impact. She could worry about that later. Saki turned around and laid Homura across the flat wooden surface, and Kyouko quickly reached out to check the girl's pulse.

Terrifying. The skin was frozen and waxy with the beginning stages of frostbite, and beneath the hardening wrist there was no jump that told her that Homura's heart was still beating. The girl might already dead.

Her Soul Gem was shining brighter than a flame, however, as if someone were interacting with it.

Kyouko gritted her teeth and bowed her head, gripping onto the time traveler's forearm with both hands. _Don't die, Homura. Don't fucking die._

_I've got so much I haven't told you yet._

"Go and start a fire," Saki told her suddenly, as the blonde rolled back her sleeves and stooped over Homura's body herself. Finding no reason to disobey, the redhead turned and stumbled across the room to where the barren fireplace sat, and began dragging blocks of fresh wood into the chamber.

Meanwhile, Saki took a deep breath and closed her eyes, as a faint golden light emerged from her fingertips. She began muttering incoherencies under her breath.

Having placed the last of the wood, Kyouko dug out four matches from a nearby box above the fireplace and lit them all at once, tossing the flickering sticks inside. A small flame was born within the depths of the wood. It would grow.

She stumbled back to the table, where Saki was bathing Homura with golden light. The raven haired girl's body was twitching at regular intervals under the effects of Saki's magic, but her eyelids remained closed and her hands remained lifeless. She looked so dead that it made Kyouko's heart clench painfully.

"I'm going to need your help," Saki suddenly snapped at her, all business. Kyouko stood up straight immediately.

"Tell me what do to."

Saki pursed her lips and felt Homura's pulse. "Her body's so frozen that dunking her in scalding water wouldn't thaw her in time," She said tersely. "Her soul is somehow holding on for now, but it won't last forever. I haven't exactly tried this before, but I'm going to send discharges of my magic through her body. The energy should generate some intense levels of heat in its raw form, and hopefully save her body from being preserved till the end of time."

Kyouko narrowed her eyes. "And where do I come in?"

"She's going to thrash," Saki replied bluntly. "I'm basically defibrillating her. Hold her down."

Gulping, the redhead took her position by Homura's side and gripped the girl's ankles in one hand and her shoulder in the other, shivering when their skin made contact. Saki leaned over and placed two fingers on the time traveler's collarbone, before closing her eyes and breathing in deeply.

It was silent for a moment before Saki spoke. "One."

What felt like a bolt of lightning surged through Homura's body, running just beneath the first layer of her skin and singing Kyouko's hands. The redhead ignored the pain and held on tightly as the girl's form jumped from the magical spark, kicking a foot off the table before landing with a painful crash. Kyouko looked through blurry eyes to realize that Homura's clothes were smoking.

"Two," Saki intoned, and shocked her again.

Kyouko held on a little better this time, but her hands were screaming from the near burns they were being dealt. But the procedure was giving results. Some color was returning to Homura's skin, and her body didn't feel so waxy anymore. A small flicker of hope grew inside her.

"Three."

The final bolt of magic blasted through Homura's veins, and by now a small puddle of evaporating water had actually formed on the table beneath her body. Saki signaled to her that it was done, and Kyouko staggered back, exhausted by the physical exertion and still wincing from her wounds.

The blonde felt the time traveler's pulse again but recoiled when the temperature of the skin singed her fingertips. "Well, that should warm her up if anything," She murmured.

The blonde looked up at Kyouko when the redhead sagged against the edge of the table. "Go and rest," She said softly, as if speaking loudly risked waking the third girl in the room. "I can do the rest on my own."

"But-"

"Go. You're injured, too."

Kyouko felt under her shirt again and realized that the bleeding wasn't stopping. Twisting and looking at the ground, she was sickened to find that the carpet was stained red all over, the blood soaking slowly into the ground. She turned back and looked at Saki, wondering how the girl could take note of such things so calmly.

Just who was she?

Her mind wasn't strong enough to answer that question just yet. Her eyes were closing over herself, and she couldn't stand firm on her own feet. She was spinning from blood loss. Staggering over to the couch sitting across from the now roaring fireplace, Kyouko collapsed into the blissfully forgiving cushions and closed her eyes.

She hoped she wouldn't be alone when she woke up.

* * *

><p>She felt much lighter.<p>

Cracking her eyes open a fraction, Kyouko took in the sliver of the room this view allowed her. There was a slumped figure sleeping in front of the fire, absorbing all of its warmth. A second figure was hunched over the couch, holding something against the redhead's chest. The room felt so much warmer, almost ridiculously so, in direct contrast to the deep freeze outside. She didn't feel like shit anymore. Her chest had stopped hurting, too.

Opening her eyes fully, she saw Saki sitting in front of her.

The older girl was holding something between them, and when Kyouko looked she saw that it was a Grief Seed. Small tracks of despair were flowing out from her Soul Gem into the black egg shaped orb, taking her own corruption unto itself. The Seed looked exceptionally saturated already, meaning that this had been going on for a while. That explained her sudden reinvigoration, at least.

"You're awake," Saki said, more as a statement than as an expression of surprise. "You recover quickly."

"Thanks," Kyouko replied in a hoarse voice, not one for words yet. Her eyes flitted down to the figure sleeping in front of the fire and widened.

"Not me," She growled, reaching out to push weakly at Saki's hand. "Homura first."

"Relax. I've already purified her."

"The demons?"

"My magic will keep us hidden from them for the time being."

Kyouko's hand stilled, and finally dropped back to her side. She settled back into the cushions with a defeated sigh and let the blonde go about her business. Saki seemed to half-smile as she refocused her energies on purifying the redhead, drawing the despair that had manifested itself out of her soul. The process took several more seconds, during which time they sat together in silence.

Finally, the last stream of corruption whispered into the quiet core of the Grief Seed, and Saki returned the saturated catalyst to storage. Kyouko sighed in physical and mental relief, feeling better than she had in months. It was her first purification in that time, after all. Still, that didn't eradicate her questions concerning the giver of said purification.

Staring at Saki out of the corner of her eye, Kyouko tried to read the girl's body language. She wasn't using that blurry cloud to obscure her face anymore, and now the redhead could see her features in the flickering firelight. A strong nose, and pencil thin eyebrows. Blonde hair tied back, a little paler than Mami's, whose hair was more of a true blonde. Saki's had a platinum tinge. Her eyes were sharp, sharper than anyone Kyouko had met since running into Homura all those months ago, and told of an underlying cunning and intelligence behind the calm exterior.

Still, it wasn't a cruel cunning. Kyouko had no reason to think this, but she thought Saki's obvious intelligence felt...almost playful, in a way.

She would have to think about that later.

Saki twisted around and glanced at Homura's sleeping form, the form of the girl whose life she had just saved. "I've heard about her," She murmured, taking the saturated Grief Seed out again and twirling it around in her fingers. "She has quite a reputation."

"Really?" Kyouko asked, genuinely surprised. She lifted her head off the couch for a moment to look at Homura, then fell back down. "I didn't know she had associated with other girls before."

"She didn't," Saki admitted, tapping at the Seed. "Or at least, I don't think she did. But many of us are nomadic. We pass through the area, undetected. We observe things. We pass them on."

"Oh," Kyouko said tiredly, still exhausted at a basic level. She might be magically recharged, but her human self was still running on fumes. "What kind of a reputation, exactly?"

The blonde drew her finger down the length of the dark orb. "Mostly one concerning her power," She said. "The lone wolf, who could take on entire hordes singlehandedly. She never had to have anyone by her side, not like us. Even the ones who travel alone need to pick at the edges of cities, never biting off more than we can chew."

Kyouko closed her eyes for a moment. She was fully aware of how ridiculously powerful Homura could be at her peak, of course. It made it even harder to see the girl unconscious and beaten. Homura was supposed to be dependable. She wasn't supposed to run out into storms and get the shit beaten out of her. And she definitely wasn't supposed to make rash decisions like going out there alone.

_I guess I pushed her to that extent._

"I always wondered, though," Saki murmured, staring deep into the Seed's swirling depths. "If she was alone because she wanted to be, or because she had to be."

Kyouko opened her eyes. "It's a little bit of both," She replied. "Mostly the latter."

Saki smiled wanly. "She's the complete opposite of Mami, then. Mami has all the people in the world around her, but all she does it push them away..."

The redhead no longer doubted that the blonde sitting in front of her was a magical girl. That much had become rather obvious. But her connection to Mami, and the reason for her sudden return, were both still unknown. And while she definitely appreciated it, Saki had had no reason to help them.

She glanced at the carpet and realized that it was clean. "Did you scrub out my blood?"

"It's rude to leave a mess in a stranger's house."

Kyouko fell silent for a moment. "Why are you doing this?"

Saki smiled. "Mami is important to me. And you two are important to Mami, despite appearances. So I feel obligated to look out for you. Besides, who sent you out into that storm?"

"I suppose you did."

"Mmm," Saki agreed, stuffing the Grief Seed away. "Though I think you would have gone after her eventually, even without my suggestion. I'd been hearing rumors that the infamous Lone Angel had recently made a very good friend." She looked Kyouko up and down. "I guess those rumors were true."

For some unexplainable reason, Kyouko found herself blushing. "O-Oh," She said, hoping the light from the fire would hide it. "Do they actually call her that?"

"Some of us do," Saki replied, and for a moment Kyouko detected that shrewd playfulness she had detected earlier. "Though we might just change it to 'Angel' now."

"Doesn't sound as intimidating."

The blonde laughed softly. "That's what friendship can do. It disarms you sometimes," She said, looking back at Homura. "So, did the two of you make up?"

Kyouko followed her gaze. "I...well, no. Not yet. Do we even have to? After all this.."

Saki pursed her lips. "I don't think that one argument is the only thing you need to resolve with her," She said. "It's best not to leave loose ends hanging."

She got up then, tilting her head ever slightly. "I'll let you rest," She murmured before leaving the room, padding away down the hall.

Meanwhile, Kyouko continued staring at Homura. She knew Saki was right. She still had no goddam idea who the blonde was, but she was still right. Before she tried to answer the questions surrounding Saki, she had to answer the ones surrounding her best friend.

Of course, she would have done it earlier if the idea wasn't so terrifying.

Slipping off the couch, she crawled across the floor with her blanket and settled in next to Homura, wrapping the sheets around them and pressing close to the other girl. The raven haired girl murmured something in her sleep before snuggling against the redhead, breathing softly and shallowly. Kyouko closed her eyes. The fire was warm against her face, and Homura was warm against her shoulder.

As she drifted off again, she remembered thinking that this was how it should be.

* * *

><p>If she had been blissfully cold earlier, now she was blissfully warm.<p>

She didn't want to wake up. To wake up meant to face the world.

Homura sighed something in her sleep and pressed closer against the other girl in the blanket. The movement felt so natural, so _right_, that she didn't even take the time to question the development. This was the way it should be. That much she knew. She could stay like this forever, if circumstances allowed it.

Then a spark of heat spat out from the fire, singing the tip of Homura's hand.

It wasn't the most intense of pains, but it was enough to pull her eyes open.

The first thing she saw was, of course, the fireplace and the flame roaring softly within it. She stared into its wavering depths for a moment, somewhat captivated by its passivity. Just a spectator. A role she desired.

A glance down, and she took in the thin blanket wrapping around her person. It was just a spectator too, Homura thought, as she traced a finger along the aimless pattern in the fabric. Just like the fire. Just like this room.

The girl murmuring and shaking herself awake beside her was not, however, a spectator.

Homura realized, then, that she wasn't sitting up on her own power. She was leaning against Kyouko's sturdy shoulder, the tips of their hair tangling subtly together. The redhead's scent wreathed around them, intoxicating. She was so close that Homura could feel the girl's pulse, racing against her cheek like a galloping enchantment solely designed to draw her deeper, into the depths of the oblivion known as affection.

It was intimate, undoubtedly, and terrifyingly so. But Homura was too content to move away, or even feel embarrassment. She could be selfish for once. And this was what she wanted.

Kyouko had by now awakened fully, and she turned to regard the raven haired girl buried against her. She half expected the redhead to overreact to her recovery, but the girl just sighed and looped one arm around Homura's waist, pulling her in closer.

"Homura," She murmured against the girl's midnight locks. "You're awake."

"Mmm," Homura murmured, still numb. The tips of her fingers felt nonexistent. She pressed closer to the redhead, trying to absorb more of her warmth. It wasn't something she would have normally done, but she felt small and scared.

Once she did this, Homura realized that Kyouko was trembling. The arm looping so securely around her shoulders was shaking with adrenaline and fear, the ichor of emotion. Looking up in alarm, she saw tears streaming out of the girl's face, which the redhead angrily swept away.

"Jesus Christ," Kyouko stuttered, inhaling a shuddering breath. "Jesus Christ, Homura. I thought you were dead."

She reached up and placed her fingers on Kyouko's wrist, trying to steady her hand. "Me too. I'm sorry."

But Kyouko shook her head, withdrawing her arm and taking the warmth with it. "No. Don't apologize," She said through gritted teeth. "It's my fault you ran out into that storm. If I wasn't such a fucking idiot, you wouldn't have..."

But Homura only shook her head solemnly. "Don't blame yourself. I don't blame you either. I'm the fool for going alone."

"But it almost got you killed," Kyouko replied angrily, the tears returning. "If I had at least come after you sooner, this wouldn't have happened to you. If lost you, Homura, I don't...I wouldn't know..."

She really started crying then, as the stress of the past several hours finally broke through her mental defenses. Homura reached out and pulled Kyouko into a tight embrace as the redhead almost began to bawl, tears streaming from her crimson irises and staining the front of the time traveler's shirt. But Homura held her regardless, stroking the redhead's hair and murmuring sweet nothings, telling her that it was alright, that she was okay now, and that she would be okay in the future.

And as she did, she considered her meeting with the Goddess in the back of her mind. How, with the wave of a hand, she had quelled the scythe of Death from taking her life. But how close she had come to joining the Law of Cycles. It only served to remind her that, for all the magic and power she might possess, death was only a stroke away at all times. That this life was fragile, this existence where extremes warred against extremes, and could be snuffed out at any moment for eternity.

And that if the rules were so, how stupid it really was to deny herself her desires.

"Stupid Homura. Stupid, idiot Homura..." Kyouko muttered as she started hitting her.

_I suppose I was afraid to lose her,_ Homura thought as Kyouko's shoulders continued to shake. _And she was just as afraid to lose me. But that shouldn't have stopped either of us. _Leading an insecure existence wasn't a reason to shun her own dreams. In fact, it was reason to pursue them. She understood that, now.

Reaching down, she cupped Kyouko's chin and lifted the girl's face up, drawing the redhead's glistening eyes to her own. The spear wielder looked up at her curiously, face concealed by a veil of wonderment and confusion, as Homura continued to stroke the line of her jaw and flick away the occasional tear.

In this moment of weakness, Kyouko was still beautiful to her.

It was a hidden fragility that she wanted to protect forever.

"Oh...um, sorry," Kyouko sniffed, reaching up to rub away at her face. "I cried all over you..."

Homura shook her head. "It's okay," She whispered.

Something slipped through her mind, a passing memory.

_Kyouko doesn't cry._

_Doesn't mean she doesn't want to._

How things had changed. She had something to lose now.

The redhead laughed softly at herself then, shaking her head. "All of this because we kissed on the lake," She said, still smiling weakly. "All this, and you could have died. You must be pretty pissed."

Homura frowned. "No..."

But Kyouko just shook her head again. "It's okay for you to hate me," She whispered, letting go of Homura's hands and sitting back, increasing the space between them. "I always do this. This is why I'm afraid to get close with people. It's not them, it's me...I always fuck up, I always do something to ruin everything."

_No._ Something ugly was shifting inside the time traveler's chest. It was fear. It was a fear of misunderstandings. She was so close, she had finally realized everything, but Kyouko was unwittingly making it harder for her.

Kyouko gritted her teeth. "I just want to say that I'm sorry," She said, the words coming out too slowly. "I...I'm sorry I made you uncomfortable. I'm the one who started all of this, and it was my fault that things got awkward between us. I'll give you more space from now on."

_No, no, no,_ Homura thought, heart rate quickening when she realized that Kyouko was now pulling away from her, increasing the oceans she would have to cross to reach her. An army of words crowded her throat, giving her the desire to say things in a way that she had never been motivated to say before. That she didn't want her own space, she wanted to share it with her, that Kyouko wasn't the one who had started this, but her, months ago when they had fought under the looming shadows of the construction site.

All of these words, none of these ways to say them. And when Kyouko bowed her head and made to stand up, muttering something about leaving her alone, a massive part of Homura's mind panicked. It was the feeling that, if she let Kyouko get away this time, they would never have a chance for her to express herself. And as her arms reached out for her best friend, her heart was choked with the rush of anticipation, the fear of rejection. But she pushed it all aside to pursue what she desired.

Homura grabbed Kyouko by the shoulders and dragged her down for a hasty kiss.

Homura heard Kyouko gasp softly as their lips met, and something in the time traveler's chest exploded messily at the sound. Her heart was hammering so fast that it threatened to beat its way out of her chest cavity, a predicament made only worse by the fact that Kyouko seemed stunned into stillness. They stayed in that moment for a long time, eyes screwed shut as one lay atop the other, so suspended that for a moment Homura wondered if she had accidentally activated her magic.

A moment later, the redhead sighed softly and pulled her closer.

Relief crashed through Homura's mind as Kyouko all but melted against her, both of them making small sounds in their throats as they lost themselves in the embrace, surrounded by nothing but the heat from the fire and from within themselves. She wasn't used to being disoriented, but something heavy infused her as she kissed the redhead again and again, driven by some basic desire that had been restrained for too long.

It sent a strange rush through her veins to kiss Kyouko. And as they continued to brush their lips together, sighing occasionally when an errant tongue got between them, Homura knew that she had been craving this since that night on the lake. She just hadn't allowed herself to think it, until now.

Kyouko pushed Homura onto her back, and there the two of them broke apart for air, breathing a little harder than was logical. Their eyes met, almost dizzyingly so, and when Kyouko's breath caressed Homura's neck it sent a chilling thrill down the length of her spine.

"I thought," The redhead said between breaths, "That you wanted to forget about this."

Homura suddenly realized the audacity of what she had just done and blushed deeply. "I wasn't being honest," She admitted simply. "I was afraid of the repercussions that we could have faced, and I was afraid that, one day, I might lose you..."

Kyouko's eyes fell. "That hasn't changed," She said quietly, biting her lip.

"No," Homura agreed, reaching up to pull the redhead's face back.

"But I've decided that I don't really care anymore," She added, before closing her eyes to kiss the redhead again.

When they pulled apart a second time, Kyouko looked down at her almost worriedly. "Are you sure about that?" She asked tentatively, sounding borderline timid.

Homura smiled bemusedly. "Yes."

Kyouko blinked down at her, doubt still swirling in her eyes. "I could die tomorrow. Today, even. The same applies to you."

"And that's exactly why we should do this now, before it's too late," Homura replied with equal conviction, staring back up at the redhead, an unspoken challenge in her eyes.

Kyouko gazed into those violet irises she had always been so captivated by and sighed, knowing that this was one challenge she could not rise up to. She leaned down and brushed her nose along the line of Homura's ear, whispering,

"I am _so _glad you came to beat the shit out of me that day."

Homura couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"Yeah. Me too."

And so began yet another chapter between them.

* * *

><p><strong>I can't believe it took me 13 chapters and over 100,000 words to get these two knuckleheads together, but better late than never I suppose. <strong>

**Short chapter after a long wait, but hopefully you enjoyed it! The demon anomaly remains the lone obstacle between Homura and Kyouko's happiness, now.**

**Please leave any thoughts in the reviews!**

**~Banshee**

ps. I made a Tumblr! I only post anime gifs though… (anime-exodus)


	14. Black, White, and Gray

Chapter 14: Black, White, and Gray

"How did your visit go?" Cindy asked out of courtesy, reaching forward to straighten out the leaves of a nearby flower arrangement.

Mami found herself snapped out of a brief stupor. "I...fine, I suppose," She answered at last, staring down at the sheets beneath her as she listened to the soft crinkles of Cindy handling the leaves. Outside, the storm continuing howling its low monotone, droning steadily beyond the window pane.

"Did she end up being someone you knew?" The nurse asked next, finishing with the flowers and pulling out her trusty tablet.

The blonde paused again to consider the validity of her response. "I don't think so," She answered truthfully. "She seemed to know me somehow, so we might have met before...but even if we have, I don't remember it."

"Was she disappointed?"

"No. Almost...expectant."

Mami's nurse arched a single pencil thin eyebrow at the remark, unsure of how she was supposed to decipher it. She suspected the blonde didn't know either. Though as much as she had come to care for the young girl over the passing weeks, Cindy knew that it was ultimately none of her business. If Mami remembered anything, she would share it if she so pleased.

"I have news about your stay here," The older woman restarted, deciding to change the topic. "I spoke with the head doctors about your condition, and asked them how much longer you could stay here."

Mami gripped the sheets. "What did they say?"

Cindy looked up from her tablet solemnly. "I'm sorry, Mami. I really am. But they say you've overstayed your welcome too far already. They want you home in a week."

The blonde swallowed hard and bit her lip. "But I'm not ready," She said insistently, raising her head to make eye contact with her nurse, who stared back at her sympathetically. "I can't go back out there. I'm too afraid of what's waiting for me..."

"But what _is_ waiting for you?" Cindy suddenly asked her, so softly that Mami almost failed to pick it up over the gentle hum of the storm. "You haven't told anybody what's been holding you back all this time. After all these weeks, even I don't know. It's a big reason why the doctors want you out, you know. They don't see the point in trying to treat a condition they don't know the first thing about."

Mami exhaled audibly through her nose and sat up, leaning her head back against the dry plaster of the wall she had grown to know so well. After weeks spent resting her cheek against the poorly covered surface, she had learned its flaws and indents, like it was an old friend.

"Nobody would understand even if I told them," She finally protested, hoping it would get the nurse off her case. "Even if they did, they wouldn't believe me. It's too fantastical."

"That's what all the patients in the psychiatric ward say," Cindy replied blandly, startling the blonde with the lack of sympathy in her voice. "And you know what, Mami? Each and every one of them, end up having problems that I've heard before. Don't think that there's something you can tell me that I haven't heard at least once."

Mami could tell that she wasn't getting through to the woman and bowed her head, feeling crushed by the weight of the world. "I'm not like those people," She whispered, feeling weak tears rising and hating it. "I wish I was like them. Things would be so much easier if I was."

Cindy sighed again. She really disliked seeing a patient she had come to care for act like this. She knew that sooner or later, she would have to push Mami to face her trauma. Now was as good a time as any. "It's not the person who makes the problem special," She replied, trying her best to sound authoritative. "You could be in the bloody Yakuza for all I care; crime lords have the same problems as little girls with no one to turn to. It is circumstance that matters."

"Even my circumstances are different from anybody else's," Mami replied miserably, drawing her knees up to her chest and hiding her face.

The nurse pursed her lips; it was her job to care for the patient, but Mami was seriously irritating her at the moment. Walking around the bed until she was squatting in front of the younger girl, she grabbed the blonde's wrists and pulled her arms away from her face.

"I hate people who expect their problems to be solved without doing anything about it themselves," She told the girl unapologetically. "They're cowardly people who rely on luck and the kindness of others to get by...are you that kind of person, Mami?"

The blonde stared angrily back at her with eyes ringed red with preeminent tears. She looked awfully disheveled. "Maybe I am."

"Maybe you are," Cindy agreed readily, sparing the girl no remorse. "But I don't think you are. And even if I'm wrong, you definitely don't have to be. It _helps_ to talk, Mami. Believe me when I say that. What's the point of keeping it all bottled up?"

"I'm afraid of what you'd say if I told you."

"I wouldn't be angry."

"I never said you would be. But you might be disgusted."

"I won't be."

"How can I know that for sure?"

"You can't," Cindy replied honestly. "That's why people make promises."

Mami stopped her endless train of rebuttals and stared at her nurse instead, slumped halfway against the soft white paint of the wall behind her, surrounded by the darkness that had both comforted and vindicated her. It was a moment of profound silence, as the nurse watched her patient's emotions war against each other in her eyes, like a passive messenger awaiting the words of her hapless leader.

Finally, Mami closed her eyes and sunk her chin to her chest, the first of many tears staining her hands.

"I killed someone."

"...What?"

"I killed someone," She repeated with more conviction this time to a shocked Cindy. "Not directly, of course. That would have taken more initiative than a person like me could ever have. No, instead I drove her to her death, spending so much time making sure nothing could ever separate the two of us that I forgot to ensure that I wouldn't do that very same thing."

"I..." Cindy found herself struggling with the information despite her vows. "I see," She settled with at last, biting her lip. "And do you feel guilty or responsible for her death?"

"That goes without saying," Mami whispered back. "But it's beyond that. If I hadn't been what I am, she wouldn't have died. If my circumstances weren't what they were, this never would have happened. If I _wasn't who I was,_ I wouldn't even be here. That's why I can't believe you when you say that the person doesn't determine the story...because, when we get down to the details of it, I _am_ my story."

"Oh, Mami..." Cindy murmured as the blonde quietly broke down into a fresh wave of tears, hiding her face behind her hands. The nurse leaned forward and pulled her young charge in for a fierce hug. "It's okay," She said firmly, stroking the blonde's hair gently as she clung onto her. "You can't blame yourself for everything...you're okay."

"I see her in my dreams," Mami sobbed, pressing her face into the nurse's front. "Every time I close my eyes, she's there. Judging me. Like her ghost is here to haunt me."

"It'll pass," Cindy said with conviction, holding her patient tighter. "Everything will pass." Then something occurred to her, and she looked down at the blonde uncertainly. "Mami...if you don't mind me asking...what was her name?"

Mami inhaled with a deep shudder. "Kiku.

"Kiku Hanezawa."

The nurse stiffened. "Hanezawa?"

Mami nodded weakly, and looked up at her. "Is something wrong?"

Cindy stared hard at the wall and was about to say something when her tablet buzzed. Picking up the device and unlocking it, she read its contents. "Sorry," She muttered regretfully, sliding off the bed. "The old man in room 204 is having breathing issues again...they need me there." She looked apologetically at the blonde.

But Mami managed to smile back this time, for the first time in weeks. "That's fine. Go do your work."

"You'll be alright here?"

Mami laughed half heartedly to herself at the inquiry, but it wasn't out of complete disdain. It was strange. Crying seemed to have lifted part of a weight off her shoulders. "I guess I'll have to be."

Cindy smiled and moved to close the door behind her.

"That's my girl."

* * *

><p>"So," Saki said earnestly, "I'd say it's about time we give each other a proper introduction."<p>

The three of them were sitting around the dinner table that Homura had almost died on mere hours earlier, with Saki on one end facing the other two. Kyouko and Homura both stared dubiously back at the utterly mysterious blonde, unsure of how to initiate any sort of conversation and more than willing to let Saki take the lead.

And so she did. The older girl extended one arm towards Homura and said, "The name's Saki. We don't know each other, but I'm an acquaintance of Mami's. I understand this isn't the most ordinary way for people to meet, but...I hope we can be friends."

"Likewise," Homura replied curtly, lifting one slender hand to reciprocate the handshake. Saki visibly flinched when their skin made contact but reacted graciously, hiding her surprise well.

[_Yikes, why so chilly? Still frozen from earlier?_] Kyouko asked her girlfriend through mental telepathy, coating the question with a layer of teasing humor. The two of them were holding hands underneath the table, under the guise that it would help them communicate more fluently. While that wasn't untrue, neither of them were foolish enough to believe it was the only reason.

[_There's something off about her,_] Homura replied suspiciously, narrowing her eyes for just a millisecond before regaining her facial facade. [_I can't place her intention. It almost feels like I've met her before, but not exactly. I don't think she is our enemy after all she has done to help us, but it always pays to be careful._]

"I'm sorry for hiding my magic from you earlier," Saki continued, this time in Kyouko's direction. "Magical girls who live nomadically develop the habit of concealing their identities whenever possible, you see. It is difficult to survive otherwise."

"I understand."

The light switch had been located and flipped by now, and the table was bathed under the gentle glow of florescent lighting. The fire to their left wasn't the only source of illumination anymore, but Kyouko still felt strangely drawn to it. Maybe because it bore a semblance to security. It was certainly better that trying to figure out this enigma of a girl sitting before them.

"If I may ask," Homura said this time, "Why did you leave the hospital to search for us? Just out of curiosity."

Homura hadn't known about that part, of course, but Kyouko had mentally filled her in on all the details earlier. Now everyone was caught up.

Saki smiled, looking strangely flustered by Homura's question, and like Kyouko the time traveler did not like the expression. "I knew what Sakura-san was the moment I asked her for directions, of course. Even once she left to search for you, Akemi-san, I could sense her magical signature. Then out of nowhere, it flickered and died out."

"And that's when you knew we might be in trouble," The redhead deduced, earning a nod from the blonde.

"I didn't expect to find what I did," Saki continued honestly. "But I'm glad I decided to check. You might have died otherwise."

Kyouko found herself liking this new girl. She seemed dependable, but not foolish or naive either. Just cynical enough to understand how the world worked but kind enough to assist when necessary. A good balance. She was about to thank Saki again for her help when Homura interrupted her.

"But the blizzard was literally miasma in the form of snow," She said, frowning. "Even I could barely detect signatures through the storm, and I was probably much closer to Kyouko than you were at the time."

Saki blinked. "It is my specialty to have awareness," She said. "Though I would have expected nothing less from the one and only Akemi Homura."

Homura paused as if to contemplate that answer, and seemed to accept it. She thought at first that Saki was being sarcastically respectful but realized that the words were genuine. "Sorry, but what was your relationship to Mami, again?"

"I'm family."

Homura's eye twitched. "Ah. Excuse my nosiness. I just like to know."

"Of course."

[_She's lying,_] The time traveler said almost immediately afterwards to Kyouko, who blinked at the mental transmission. [_Mami doesn't have any family left._]

[_That's what I thought,_] The redhead relayed back, [_But if you think about it, there was never any guarantee that Mami didn't have a cousin or something of the sort hidden away somewhere. Besides, just look at her. The two of them look so similar!_]

But Homura just did the mental equivalent of shaking her head. [_While there is evidence to support her claim, I'm not convinced. Based on everything we know about Mami, this just doesn't fit._] Privately, Homura thought that if Mami hadn't had any family in the hundreds of time loops she had lived through, she probably didn't have any in this universe either.

Kyouko frowned, conflicted. She wanted to believe Saki, but she trusted Homura's judgement as well. The time traveler's doubt quickly became her own, and she eyed the blonde a bit more warily.

"I had intended to pay Tomoe-san a brief visit before leaving to prepare for...other business," Saki said, "But I ended up having my identity unveiled instead." The older girl laughed lowly to herself.

"Family..." Homura rolled the expression around in her mind. "What prompted the visit? Were you unaware that Mami had been contracted until now?"

"No, no," Saki replied hastily, wringing her hands. "I just wanted to check up on her, see, to make sure she was alright before I had to leave."

"But this is certainly a worrying problem we have on our hands," The blonde continued, leaning her elbows on the table and linking her fingers before her nose. "I wasn't expecting to run into a Radix here."

There was a brief second of confused silence.

"A Radix," Homura repeated, the name sending a deep chill through Kyouko's spine for some strange reason. "Do you mean the demon anomaly?"

"Whatever you would like to call it," Saki said dismissively, waving a singe hand fluidly. "It has many names. I'd heard that there might be one in Mitakihara before, but it had been hidden away somewhere until now...how did you happen to awaken it?"

The question was directed at Homura, who blinked back almost emotionlessly. Kyouko probably hadn't noticed, but Homura knew that the inquiry was an attempt to divulge information without asking anything directly. It was in the way the blonde stared at her, the dogged anticipation within her eyes. She didn't know why Saki would do such a thing, but to her this presented an opportunity. A chance to learn the blonde's hand.

"I don't know," Homura replied, making sure her eyes glazed over to show her own apparent confusion. "One moment I was alone, and searching for demons. The next moment they were on my tail."

Saki blinked, momentarily thrown before she regained her composure. "I see," She said, closing her eyes. "That is regrettable. It is often difficult to determine where Radixes manifest, if at all."

[_Now you're lying too,_] Kyouko noted blandly, playing with Homura's fingers absently just beneath the table to get her attention. [_I thought you found the demons in the sewers?_]

[_I did,_] Homura agreed, momentarily distracted by the sensation of Kyouko's fingers twining through her own. [_And Saki's right, they were asleep, and I woke them up._]

[_Your point being?_]

[_Saki shouldn't have known that._]

[_Ah._]

"We don't actually know anything about...these Radix things," Kyouko said, initiating the conversation this time. "We've never seen anything like this in Mitakihara before. Even the city I was in previously never had this. I understand that Homura and I aren't exactly nomads, but..." She shook her head. "I don't know how something like it could exist."

Saki nodded gravely. "This is the first time I've seen anything like this either." She paused, as if contemplating a bitter memory. "They are very dangerous creatures. They come from tainted wishes."

Meanwhile, Homura found herself briefly distracted from the conversation at hand. She didn't know what it was exactly. It was something in the walls, in the pots and pans lining the stove across the room, in the small personal garden slowly freezing just outside. It was in the air around them, as if the atmosphere were imbued with something beyond the atoms and molecules that composed it, something preterhuman, something...divine.

Homura's heart rate spiked for a moment as she tried to keep her eyes from going wide. How the coincidence stacked. This was _that girl's_ house.

"Tell us about them," Kyouko said, covering for Homura's lapse in concentration, which she hadn't failed to notice. Even if she did not yet understand its source. Privately, she contacted her friend.

[_What's wrong?_]

[_It's nothing. It's just...Kyouko, this is her house._]

[..._You don't mean Kaname Madoka?_]

[_I do._]

[_...Damn._]

"Radixes are not unlike their lesser cousins," Saki began, still unaware of the conversation taking place between the members of her audience. "In fact, I believe they are born the same way, from the despair of humanity...but they come from a different source."

The blonde held her hands an inch above the surface of the table before them, as if she were holding an invisible box. Slowly, a stream of mist formed between her fingertips, and within that mist the two of them could see images, playing out like the flickering telltale of a movie. The first picture was of a faceless girl.

"Normal demons are born, as you know, from negative emotions. They are gathered up and consolidated into a single entity," Saki murmured. "But Radixes are different. While demons receive their power from the secondhand despair of ordinary people, Radixes take their energies straight from the source."

Homura pursed her lips. "Meaning..."

Saki nodded, and the faceless girl twisted into nothing and was replaced by a blank Soul Gem. "When a girl makes a wish, she lets out a massive discharge of energy. It is this energy that the Incubators are after. However, even they can't collect every last drop." She paused, and the Soul Gem dissipated into nothing, leaving only the fog. "There is residue. There is a trace. A large area around where the contract was made is imbued with magical power, not unlike the magical concentration found within a Soul Gem."

Kyouko stared hard at the fog. "So it's like a lesser Soul Gem, spread out over a large area?"

"Precisely. Normally, there would be a girl present to direct this energy in combat, but when it is left alone..."

"...Someone else could use it instead," Homura realized darkly. Of course.

"Or some _thing_ else, more accurately," Saki agreed. "It is this point of origin that Radixes arise from. Even the word 'Radix' means 'origin.' Rather than feed off the despair of humans, they absorb the pure, unadulterated energy of a freshly contracted girl."

Kyouko leaned back in her seat and gripped Homura's hand a little harder. "That's fucking sick," She growled. "No wonder they're so powerful."

Homura didn't say anything, but couldn't agree more. To her, the Radixes had properties much too similar to a Witch's. A monster absorbing another girl's power was no different from a girl becoming the monster itself.

"Do Radixes exhibit some sort of control over lesser demons?" Homura asked this time, gesturing towards the fog, which by now was displaying a basic model of a demon. Saki blinked and stared down at her hands.

"Yes, I do believe so," The blonde replied. "Or at least, there is some sort of hierarchy involved; basic demons definitely recognize that Radixes are more powerful than them. They can create their own personal miasma, after all. This very storm is evidence enough of that. They also tend to speed the growth of demons wherever they go, and are seemingly more intelligent in comparison. They won't fall for the standard tricks we use."

Kyouko coughed out a disgruntled _tch_ and crossed her legs beneath the table, obviously offended that such a powerful entity could exist. Meanwhile, Homura bit her thumb and stared hard at the fog, trying to find more questions to ask.

"Can all Radixes shape-shift?" She finally inquired, raising her eyes to meet Saki's.

The older girl's irises darkened at a tainted memory.

"No," She said softly, in a way that made Kyouko look up as well. "No, they can't."

[_Saki can shape-shift too,_] Kyouko suddenly realized.

[_Not exactly. Though her abilities are similar._]

[_Do you think...?_]

[_I don't know. We may have to wait and see. If she does turn out to be our enemy, we will have to approach her cautiously. She is not someone we can underestimate._]

[_Tell me about it. If she actually isn't part of Mami's family, we really don't know the first thing about this girl._]

"You seem to know alot about these Radixes," Homura tried to note as honestly as possible, keeping her face clear. "Have you encountered one before?"

Saki blinked. "No," She said, and Homura could she was being completely truthful. "I've just...been around alot, you know. I've heard many things from other girls in further cities."

Kyouko drew her knees up to her chest and placed her heels on the edge of her seat, rocking back and forth thoughtfully. "I'm tired of dealing with this thing, super powerful or not," She growled. "This Radix has been a problem on and off for months. It's almost gotten us killed numerous times. Then it went into hiding out of nowhere, and took all the demons in the city with it...this is too unpredictable to leave it alone anymore."

"I agree," Saki said firmly. "If I may give my opinion, this issue needs to be dealt with as soon as possible. It wouldn't do to allow a Radix to establish itself within Mitakihara, with its high population density."

"And now we've finally managed to flush the Radix into the open," Homura murmured, turning her head ever so slightly to observe the whiteout beyond the windows. "It's out there somewhere right now...I wonder what it's up to."

Saki pursed her lips. "That was what I wished to speak about next," She said tersely.

Her tone brought the two girls' attentions right back to her.

The blonde seemed to hesitate before proceeding, as if she were about to talk about something incredibly personal. "Radixes come from the origins of a magical wish," She repeated, eyes growing hard. "And though they are much stronger, Radixes have the same basic properties as ordinary demons, which are naturally attracted to the despair of humans. What I'm saying is-"

"-Radixes are drawn to wish locations," Homura concluded darkly.

Kyouko kicked her legs off the chair. "You don't mean-"

"I do," Saki said almost nervously, a jarring break from her normally composed demeanor. "The Radix, along with every single demon under its control, is probably headed for the most recent wish location. And I don't think I need to remind you where that is."

"Mitakihara General," Kyouko breathed.

"Kiku Hanezawa," Homura followed up, narrowing her eyes at a tangible conundrum only she could see.

Saki visibly flinched when this was realized. "Yes. It has only been a month since then. The traces of magical residue will still be very strong. The demons will not be able to resist going there."

"More importantly, that's where Mami is right now," Kyouko said loudly, standing up and pushing her chair back skidding on its legs. "Even if she hides her signature, she won't be able to fool that many demons at once. And who fucking knows if anyone can hide from a Radix..."

"And that's why we need to get over there right now," Saki interjected, also rising from the table. A strange air of determination was wreathing through the air around her, and Homura could see the eyes of a person with a vendetta. "We can not allow Mami to die."

It was at this point that Homura felt the divergence between their personal optimums. It drove an almost immediate wedge between her and the rest of the world, the chasm of emotions that was her differing opinion, and she knew in that instant that this was going to be a problem. Kyouko turned to look her in the eye, and suddenly the time traveler found everyone in the room staring straight at her.

"I know Mami has really screwed us over," The redhead began, as if to negotiate.

"On numerous occasions," Homura added.

"Yeah, I know," Kyouko said desperately, reaching forward and grabbing Homura's hands in her own. "But listen. I can't...I can't just leave her there to die, Homura. The same way that I couldn't let you die because of that fucking Radix. It isn't about who's more important to me, or how much I need her...I just don't want to lose anyone, either of you. I'm tired of always _losing_. I want to gain for once. And I've finally managed to gain you," She said, pulling one hand free to gently caress the side of Homura's face, making the girl blush and look down.

"So now I want to gain Mami back too," Kyouko finished, with an air of finality.

Homura remained silent, warring with herself within her soul. She thought of everything Mami Tomoe had done. She thought about the time the girl had killed Kyouko out of a bout of insanity. She remembered the endless ways in which the blonde had hindered her mission to destroy Walpurgisnaucht. She recalled Mami's blunder in this universe, abandoning everything to assist an old man. Mami Tomoe was not as reliable as she pretended to be. She was unstable, lacking in focus, and incredibly selfish.

But she was also driven by good intentions. Mami was a victim of circumstance, forced to make a wish in order to preserve her own life, a girl faced with a lifetime of rotten destiny for the misfortune of a single moment. In the previous timelines, she had never become Homura's enemy unless provoked. And Homura could never condemn the blonde's desire to not be alone. That was a want universal among all of their kind.

Homura remembered something a famous individual had said, about the road to hell being paved with good intentions. Though if she truly considered all the variables, they had all been damned in one way or another long before any of this had begun.

Hell, she and Kyouko never would have made up if Mami hadn't been there to smooth the transition.

Saki, thinking perhaps that Homura needed just a little nudge, added softly, "If we're really planning to take this thing down, we'll need as much magic on our side as possible. Mami can supply that strength."

"Please, Homura," Kyouko pitched in, gripping her girlfriend's shoulders. "For me?"

Finally, the time traveler's hackles sagged downwards. She about to do something she hadn't done in her entire life; forgive someone she hated for their sins. It made her feel awkward and unsure of herself, like she was a newborn.

"Alright," She sighed. "For you."

* * *

><p>The dull roar of the blizzard was significantly muted when they stepped outside.<p>

It was difficult to explain. Before leaving, Saki had taken the time to explain that her magic was based entirely around the concept of illusion; she could conceal her face, distract demons with orbs of light, and even completely disappear from sight if the situation called for it. These were only the tip of the iceberg that was her many illusionary abilities, but Saki still had no offensive capabilities to speak of.

"I can, however, keep us hidden from the demons until we reach the hospital," The blonde concluded.

"Why can't Homura just stop time and walk us over there?" Kyouko asked, frowning in confusion. The time traveler bit her tongue, as she had been wondering the same thing.

But Saki shook her head. "I doubt she could get us over there without having to take a break in the middle. If we can't do it in a single trip, the demons will sense the magical traces from the time stop and come after us. We can't afford to attract attention until the very last moment; the element of surprise is the only advantage we have against such great numbers."

[_She's right,_] Homura told the redhead bluntly.

[_Excuse me for attempting to contribute._]

Saki had donated to them a few more Grief Seeds so that they could both top off their magical reserves. It felt good to be running hot after such a long dry spell. This way they were as prepared as they feasibly could be.

Now, as the three of them stood gingerly within a pale bubble of light generated by Saki's Soul Gem, Homura had to admit that the situation was surreal, even borderline absurd.

Rays of transparent light were emanating from the green emerald in Saki's hand, curving at a precise angle to envelop the three of them. According to its owner, the shields would hide them from the sense of demons, who were blind and found their targets via despair and magic detection. They just had to make sure they stayed close together.

Homura wasn't easily fazed, but it still unnerved her to walk a literal five yards past a demon without feeling the urge to whip out a pair of pistols and open fire. There weren't many of the creatures around the immediate perimeter of the house, but at least a dozen demons still dotted the road leading away from the Kaname household at random intervals, floating slowly in a single direction or staying completely still. It occurred to her that this was the first time she had the opportunity to observe demons under a relatively controlled environment; the tactician inside her wanted to stop and run experimentations, but she squashed the instinct quickly.

Saki signaled that they were to start walking; the shields didn't block sound, so they would have to use telepathy and hand movements to communicate. Turning around, Homura placed her fingertips on the worn surface of the front door, closing her eyes.

How the coincidences stacked, so much so that they couldn't really be called coincidences anymore. It meant something to her that Madoka had guided them to her old home for protection. After all these months of isolation, she had started to wonder if she really had been abandoned after all. Even meeting Kyouko hadn't been enough to stave the insatiable curiosity. But now, in a moment of crisis, Homura was finally receiving her answers.

_I won't let you down. _

_[Let's go,_] Saki thought, and the three of them trudged off slowly into the snow.

The storm was still making progress through the streets, but it wasn't as intense as before, the demons that had caused it having abated considerably over time. Still, Homura knew that it wouldn't last long, if at all. She doubted the three of them could slip Mami out of the hospital completely undetected. Quietly, she began counting her bullets.

It really was difficult to suppress her instincts. Thirty yards down the length of the street, they passed by the nearest demon. For the first time, Homura saw the details in the pixelation clouding its face, the pale, hollow crest of its throat, the armless torsos and the wavering traces of despair rising off its body like a dark steam. It stood almost passively, completely devoid of the aggression Homura was so thoroughly versed in. It made her wonder if anger really was the basis of their nature.

A brief brush at the edge of her consciousness, and Homura knew that Kyubey had joined them.

[_You're late,_] She thought without emotion when the white alien alighted onto her shoulder.

[_I was making a background check,_] Kyubey replied dismissively. [_You would be interested to hear what I have learned._]

She saw that Saki was looking back at them, meaning that the blonde had noticed the alien's arrival, but said nothing. She figured that the illusionist already knew Kyubey. It was certainly more than likely.

[_Really,_] Homura thought back, reaching forward to snag the hem of Kyouko's jacket in her fingers; she didn't want to become distracted and accidentally leave herself outside of the bubble. The redhead, perhaps mistaking it as a veiled request for comfort, reached back and twined their fingers together. Not that she minded.

[_My being there at the lake would not have made a difference in your probability of survival,_] Kyubey said smoothly, probably sensing that Homura was still slightly irked about that. [_I knew that Saki was on the way. Though I must admit that the two of you cut it rather close this time, regardless of my calculations._]

The bubble of light flowed beneath their feet as well, making her feel like she was walking on a never ending sea of tangible energy. The storm was but a dull throb beyond the barrier, and the three of them were keeping speech to an absolute minimum already. It gave her the necessary room to prepare for a full blown conversation with Kyubey, as they steadily moved closer to the hospital.

[_I won't waste time trying to convince you otherwise,_] Homura thought blandly, instinctively fingering her Gem. [_Out with it, then. What did you learn through your 'background check'?_]

Kyubey bobbed its head a single time, as if to approve the direction they were headed in. [_First of all, Saki is lying. She is not part of Mami's family._]

She had suspected as much. [_How do you know?_]

[_I was observing Kyouko's conversation at the hospital from afar, and decided then that something didn't add up. The movement of the nomadic tribes is erratic, certainly, and dictated by present circumstance. But nothing in our tracking figures said that Saki should have been there,_] Kyubey explained, as the redhead in question turned around briefly to greet the alien with a silent nod. Kyubey lashed his tail in response before continuing.

[_I had never bothered to check before because it was of no consequence, but I was finally forced to consult official records about Tomoe's bloodline. We were right; she has no existing ancestors, parents, cousins, or distant relatives of any sort. The Tomoe lineage will end with her._]

All incriminating evidence, certainly, but Homura had already thought of these theories. It gave solid basis for her instinctive suspicious of Saki, but it still told them nothing of the blonde's motives. There were a million possible reasons why Saki would have to lie to stay close to Mami.

[_Is that all?_] Homura asked rhetorically, already knowing the answer.

Kyubey blinked. [_Not in the slightest. Almost everything she told the two of you was a complete lie; we keep records of which girls frequent which areas, as well as the groups they travel in. All the groups in central Japan we checked had no affiliation to Saki or any past encounters with her; for her to be a nomad and maintain such a high level of anonymity, she would have had to be incredibly secretive._]

[_Well, her powers certainly would allow her to navigate that extreme,_] Homura thought, narrowing her eyes in thought. She could see the roof of the hospital by now, shrouded like a specter in the distance. [_But it wouldn't make sense for her to force herself to live like that. Nomads generally need to be more careful without a territory established, but most girls won't bother with someone who will probably leave in the next day or two...which means..._]

[_Saki is not a nomad, and never was,_] Kyubey finished bluntly.

Homura's eyes were by now burning smoldering holes into the blonde's back. How the mysteries multiplied, even as the lies were uncovered. And there were a great many of them, it seemed. Their conversation at the Kaname household had appeared to shed some light on Saki's true identity, and though there had still been many questions Homura was content to wait for the rest. Now it appeared that she hadn't uncovered anything at all, and was in fact even further removed from the truth.

[_There remains a final discontinuity, and it might be the most important of all,_] Kyubey resumed.

So there _was_ more. [_Tell me._]

[_Ironically, the problem with this one is an excess of truth and not a shortage. When Saki was explaining the concept of the Radix to you, everything she said was more or less correct. Except that she knew more than she should have._]

[_I don't understand._]

Kyubey squeezed his paws into Homura's shoulder. [_Radixes, though rare, have appeared multiple times throughout human history. They often come into being more frequently during times of strife, but recent global history has been peaceful, and so the phenomenon has not taken place in over a century. Nevertheless, there are thirty past recorded cases of Radix manifestations since my race arrived on this planet, which has allowed us to gather significant data on them._] The alien paused.

[_The problem is that she knew some things we didn't._]

[_She did sound rather well versed in the nature of our enemy,_] Homura admitted readily, quickening her pace to catch up even with Kyouko. The redhead looked at her oddly when the time traveler inserted herself between her and Saki in the walking order.

[_She was,_] Kyouko confirmed. [_Her knowledge of their increased intelligence, and their ability to create their own miasma, were but unproven theories on our end. Even the way Radixes are created was just a strong idea to us, but she spoke of the same thing as if it were fact. The last Radix manifestation took place during the Korean War, and she does not appear in any records preceding that date, meaning that she isn't old enough to remember a possible last encounter._]

Homura did not think that this portrait of lies was intentionally orchestrated. None of this could possibly be by design, or there wouldn't have been so many obvious holes in the false identity Saki had spun around herself, like a web woven by a handicapped spider. No, this was a facade that had been hastily organized, put together as quickly as possible, in the interest of time and efficiency.

It actually comforted Homura to know this, because it proved that Saki wasn't some sort of genius mastermind come to destroy them all. She was most likely as average as a magical girl could get, made special only by the questions surrounding her. The blonde's many mistakes made her seem that much more human to her. It also meant that Homura could probably trust Saki's apparent goodwill towards them and Mami.

[_Kyouko had a brief theory,_] Homura though, [_that Saki could very well be the demon itself, or at least be affiliated with it. But that seems unlikely. The way she talked about it, I think she assumes that the Radix arose from Kiku Hanezawa's wish location. But that doesn't make sense, because it appeared earlier than that._]

[_That would be correct,_] Kyubey agreed. [_But at the same time, my race has managed to learn that Radixes can't create themselves at any moment. The wish location has to be relatively fresh, and after a number of months and years the necessary amount of energy for formation dissipates._]

Briefly, Homura asked him if he remembered his last contract before Kiku.

Kyubey didn't have to pause to think about it. [_Mami Tomoe, of course,_] He said. [_Well, it in Mitakihara anyway. I contracted Kyouko in Kazamino, which has nothing to do with our present situation. But Mami's was years ago, and there have been no other Incubators in charge of this sector for decades._]

Homura furrowed her brow in consideration as the hospital loomed ever closer, as well as her impending sense of doom. [_Do a Radix and the magical girl whose wish it rose from share any sort of connection?_]

Kyubey blinked. [_That did not occur to me. Yes, in fact, they do. It is very faint, made weak by the layers of despair that get in the way, but the link is there. But since the magical girl is often unaware that a Radix is linked to her, she wouldn't be able to sense anything unless she consciously focused on doing so. The Radix, on the other hand, knows everything._]

Homura bared her teeth ever so slightly at the compounding conundrums. It seemed that the list of unanswered problems was never ending.

Suddenly, Saki stopped in front of her and halted the rest of them with a single raised fist.

[_We're here,_] The blonde told them.

Looking up, Homura abruptly realized that she had been so absorbed in her conversation with Kyubey that she had failed to notice the swarm of demons floating lazily above them.

They seemed almost infinite, stretching across the sky like a literal Black Sea, disturbingly still compared to the frenzy with which they had moved not hours earlier. Beyond the lightless layer of demons was a gray, overcast sky, dotted with white sheets of snow and hail. For a moment, she stood suspended, caught by the scale of black, white, and gray stretching out across the heavens before her.

The three of them were actually closer to the hospital then the demon horde at this point, but the enemy was moving ever closer, slowly but surely.

Somewhere, within that sorry mess of despair, was the Radix.

Homura gripped Kyouko's hand a little harder.

[_Come on,_] Saki said solemnly, turning and hurrying for the front entrance to Mitakihara General. [_We don't have much time._]

[_Once they are sure that Mami's here, they'll try to devour her, whether they know about us or not._]

* * *

><p>It was night, and she was alone.<p>

Mami knew that it was unreasonable, but she sometimes wished that most of the staff didn't go home once their primary night shifts were over. The twenty-four hour nurses were always there, of course, but she didn't happen to know any of them particularly well, and Cindy always left in the late evenings. That meant that she was left to fend against the darkness herself every night, hiding her fears from the creeping shadows at the edges of the walls.

Though if things went as planned, she wouldn't have that particular problem anymore in a week.

She had always known that she wouldn't be allowed to stay here forever. One day the world would choose to regurgitate her into the fast running stream of modern society. But that didn't mean she couldn't delay when that day came, and now she had played out all her cards. She didn't know what she was going to do once she was released. Go home, she supposed. But then what? She had nobody. Kiku was dead, Homura hated her more than ever, and Kyouko...Sakura Kyouko, the one person who had always stood by her side, was hurt and betrayed.

Sighing heavily and leaning her head against the window, Mami stared out at the darkening sky and prayed to God for an answer.

And it came, much too quickly.

The figure of a white winged angel appeared above the horizon and began to streak towards the building. Mami's befuddled mind balked at the sight, thinking for one ridiculous moment that perhaps God really had sent one of his messengers to deliver an answer, but her own rationale quickly returned to crush the notion. Getting to her knees and grabbing the edge of the windowsill, she squinted, trying to make it out. It was small, slender, feminine...and not alone. It was carrying to others with it. It wasn't flying erratically, as if panicked by something. It was coming closer.

It was headed straight for her window.

Gasping, Mami turned and threw herself off the end of the bed, her elbows groaning in pain when they struck the cold linoleum floor.

Two seconds later, the one and only Homura Akemi crashed through the glass, sending shards of reinforced crystals spiraling through the air, before landing feet first onto the mattress and letting Kyouko and Saki drop to the floor with gasping breaths, all three of them transformed for battle.

"_Never,_" Kyouko heaved through panicked breaths, "_Never_ fly me _anywhere_ ever again."

But Mami could only stare at the winged angel looking down upon her.

Homura seemed to be questioning her stare, and Mami took care to look her tongue before speaking, but she still stuttered.

"Why..." She paused her gulp. "Why are you here?"

Homura wordlessly reached into her shield and pulled out a pair of twin pistols.

"To rescue your sorry ass," The time traveler sighed in exasperation.

Just then, the demons blasted through the open window.

Mami was so far behind the current pace of events by then that she never could have reacted in time. Luckily, the other three did. Before Mami could open her mouth to swear, Saki darted off the bed and swept the blonde up in her arms, taking off for the door immediately afterwards. Kyouko raised one arm, spear twirling in the other, and a red net of energy flickered to life around them. Homura dropped to one and began to open fire, sending a barrage of bullets spinning into the thickening horde.

But such a patchwork defense was destined to collapse quickly, and so it did. Saki swore as she rattled at the door handle; it was locked during off hours, and could only be bypassed by staff or the patient herself, but Mami was too disoriented to run a retina scan in time. Letting Mami go for a moment, the blonde reared back and kicked the door down, her heel fizzling with raw magical energy. For someone with almost no combat ability, she was surprisingly aggressive.

The two blondes spilled hastily out into the hall, Homura and Kyouko quickly following suit. The redhead rapidly summoned a tight series of walls between the window and the door, and Homura dropped a bagful of flash bangs before all four them turned and ran for their lives down the length of the hall.

The desperately erected defenses bought them about two seconds. The crimson barriers were crushed to nothing under the weight of every single demon in Mitakihara, and the all consuming fire of Homura's grenades did nothing as a black wave rushed through the demolished door and flooded into the tightly packed hallway, almost suffocating against the low ceiling. Through the corner of Homura's eye, it really did look like a sea of black was slowly filling up the building, ready to kill them all without remorse.

They might have been four strong, but two of them were occupied with simply running. Mami wasn't sufficiently mobile in her hospital gown so Saki was forced to carry her, bolting past the name plates lining the hallway with the flustered girl in her arms. Everything was blurring past them in their haste, their sole purpose to keep away from the black tide snapping at their heels.

They turned a corner. Kyouko skidded to a brief stop and swung her spear in a wide arc, drawing out another barrier, a stronger one this time. Leaving the wall there to develop on its own, the redhead turned and bounded after the rest of them.

A moment later, the demons spilled around the corner in hot pursuit and all collided against the wall they hadn't expected to be there, screeching and clawing at the unwanted obstacle that stood between them and dinner. Kyouko grinned wildly to herself. That should buy them some valuable time.

Then she sensed a shift behind her, and she turned just in time to see the demons change tactics. They ignored the wall completely and instead crashed through the windows lining the hall, flying out into open air before circumventing the barrier and returning to the interior of the building on the other side.

"Oh, come on!" Kyouko yelled as she sent a pulse of magic through her legs, pushing herself to run faster. She didn't have the slightest idea as to where they were going. Saki seemed to be running in totally random directions. Why hadn't they planned this _out_?

Homura abruptly dropped to one knee, but momentum sending her skidding along the slick floor as she pulled out some heavier weaponry and opened fire. Sensing the girl's intention, Kyouko threw up yet another shield, stalling the demons for as long as she good as Homura poured magazine after magazine into the enemy.

[_This isn't working very well,_] Kyouko noted unnecessarily as Homura threw her Scorpion to the floor and pulled out a heavier M4A1. The dull throb of 50 caliber discharges filled the hall as Homura squeezed down on the trigger.

[_I know that,_] The gun wielder replied tersely.

A crack opened up in the barrier, and a ray of energy made its way through, striking the corner of the ceiling and sending flaming rubble everywhere. Saki dove to the floor with Mami in hand to avoid being both crushed and melted alive.

[_That isn't working very well either,_] Kyouko grumbled as the two of them began to slowly step back, Homura still firing. Finally, the time traveler cursed and stuffed her rifle away, instead turning to run once more and dropping a third set of grenades. Saki saw this and took off running down the hall.

[_We need to get onto a different floor,_] Saki told them fervently, turning another corner and ducking just in time to keep a beam of energy from taking off her head. The projectile seared through the wall and left a smoldering hole. [_We won't lose them by running in circles like this!_]

[_We can't take the stairs,_] Kyouko cursed, making sure to clap her hands to her ears as Homura dropped an array of concussion grenades, scattering the bombs across the tiles in the floor like a rain of deadly dominoes. [_They'd catch up to us in a second. And the elevators might not be on._]

Homura had put her guns away. [_I'm going to bring down the floor above us. Get ready._]

Kyouko barely deflected a blast off the face of her spear. [_What?_]

[_Brace yourself._]

Without losing a step, Homura dropped her pistols and summoned her bow, the purple instrument of death materializing between her hands. Time seemed to slow considerably (and this being Homura, it very well could have been) as the girl leapt and turned around in the air, sending a single arrow into the ceiling above them.

The bolt exploded upon impact, and a rain of rubble and reinforced chrome polish thundered down to their level, sending a plume of white dust billowing out through them. Kyouko coughed and covered her eyes, which were watering as they continued to run, the ceiling collapsing in their wake.

Once the smoke cleared, they realized that they were no longer being pursued and stopped.

It was a sight to behold. The ceiling above the entire length of the hallway had collapsed, forming a continuous mountain of rubble and debris that prevented them from possibly turning back. But it also meant that the demons were temporarily blocked off from them, and when Kyouko looked closer she could hear the monsters scrabbling at the makeshift wall of earth.

"That won't hold them very long," Homura yelled back at them, already scaling the mountain to hoist herself up to the next floor through the massive gaping hole she had just made. "We need to get moving."

"Cindy's going to be pissed about this," Mami muttered to herself as the other three ran to join Homura.

Saki blinked. "Who?"

"Nevermind."

They rose to the next level, and this time Homura led the four of them through the halls; she had had Kyubey remain outside to give her eyes elsewhere, and the alien was telling her that the roof was the best place to escape from. Three pairs of heels and one set of terrified eyes clicked their way deeper into the maze of doors and passages, their shadows stalking them like distant brethren to the demons behind their backs. Finally, Homura turned and threw the door to a room wide open. She gestured for the rest of them to step inside before slamming it shut behind her.

When they switched on the lights, Homura realized that it must be some sort of canister storage room. It was a large space, lined on all sides by looming shelves and cabinets. Chair-sized metal canisters occupied said shelves, mostly oxygen containers designed for those who experienced difficulty with respiration, but there were also vats of carbon, hydrogen, and more. She didn't have to luxury of closer examination.

Running across the room, she broke the lock on the window with the butt of a pistol and pulled the sheet of glass open. The storm outside immediately billowed into the room, whispering its white secrets to them.

Homura turned to regard the other three, who were all breathing hard from the physical exertion. Any normal human would have been devoured by now, but they had used magic to move fast enough to avoid that fate.

"This is the straightest line from our floor to the roof, according to Kyubey," Homura said without wasting any time, pointing straight above them. "I need you all to grab onto me. I'm going to stop time and fly us all to the roof, and from there we will form the necessary battle strategies."

Mami balked. "We're going to _fight_ those things?" She said, the fear evident in her eyes.

Homura stared at her, but strangely enough felt no hatred. "Yes," She said simply. Then added, "I'm sorry, Mami. But ours is a world that cannot be left behind."

Mami hung her head.

"Let's go," The time traveler continued, the moment of complacency having passed. "We don't have much time before the-"

She was cut off rather rudely when a deep rumble emanated from further down the hall, the tremors rattling the array of canisters surrounding them.

It appeared that the demons were on their way again.

"Go," Kyouko said suddenly, taking a step back towards the door. "I'll hold them off here. Buy the rest of you some time."

Mami's eyes clouded at the suggestion, but Homura was the first to object.

"No. I'm not leaving without everybody," She said, narrowing her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest.

"But they'd just catch up to us if someone doesn't stall them for a little while," Kyouko argued, slamming the butt of her spear against the floor for emphasis. "We've wasted enough time already arguing about this. Just let me do it!"

"And if you die?"

The question was posed with the intention of trumping the redhead, but she stared back with resolve instead.

"We've been over that already," Kyouko replied simply, and that was final.

There was a moment of silence filled out by the rattling of the canisters as the two of them engaged in a wordless war of constitutions, as the sounds of the demon horde grew closer.

Finally, Saki tugged at Homura's sleeve. "If we're going to leave, we have to do it now."

Homura gritted her teeth and turned her back on the door. "I'm coming back for you."

Kyouko smiled. "I'm counting on it."

Homura paused once more with one leg out the window, her wings already unfurling. "Don't die," Was the last thing she said before she hoisted herself into the air, waiting for Saki the grab hold.

"Come on, Mami," Saki said soothingly, reaching up to grab the blonde's hand, but Mami was frozen with shock and flinched when the illusionist spoke to her.

"It's here," She whispered, the words hanging in the air.

Nobody said a word as they all attempted to process Mami's meaning, and a bolt of lightning struck through Kyouko's brain. She whirled around with her spear raised to strike just as Mami clutched at the ring on her finger and gasped, "It's here!"

The door opened.

And behind it stood the figment of a nightmare.

"Shit. Saki, hurry up!" Homura shouted, completely losing her cool as the Radix walked almost nonchalantly into the room, having taken the form of a black, faceless human. But now Saki seemed paralyzed by fear as well, her irises shrinking and her breathing going erratic as she took in the sight of their greatest enemy.

"Don't just stand there!" Kyouko roared, calling up a barrier between herself and the Radix, though she somehow doubted it would be helpful. "Stop staring! Just fucking _go!_" That said, she turned and shoved Saki and Mami towards the window, the push breaking them both out of their stupor. The pair of blondes and bolted for the window where Homura grabbed hold of them, and a rush of wind was the only thing left to remember as the time traveler winged her way up to the roof as fast as possible.

It took a few moments for Kyouko to notice the unlit flare that Homura had tossed into the room before fleeing, the dark red stick spinning languidly around the apex of its wick.

[_I only need thirty seconds. Stay alive until then._]

Kyouko smirked. [_Don't underestimate your girlfriend._]

With that said, she narrowed her focus on her opponent.

She wondered where the rest of the demons were. They should have caught up by now, but there was no sign of them. There was only the Radix, standing still in all its terrible glory, staring at her with sightless eyes that she felt could pick apart the pieces of her soul like a child's puzzle.

"So," She murmured, bending her knees and raising her spear, the battle adrenaline rising in her veins.

"You ready to dance?"

The anomaly seemed to regard her for a moment, then transformed into an exactly copy of her.

Something in Kyouko's heart choked at the sight of seeing a mirror reflection of herself, expect it _wasn't_ her, more like an artist's poor rendition, tainted and blackened by some sort of sick and twisted imagination. It was the same crimson hair, the same flickering Soul Gem and armor, the same facial structure. It was her, but not her. There was something unmistakably dark about this doppelgänger, as if someone had reached inside her soul and torn out its darkest parts to form this shadowed replica doll. The worst part was the eyes. They were completely black, hollow, lifeless, and bleeding dark red blood from the edges. They were the only thing about it that didn't remotely resemble anything about the original.

Its entire face looked so empty that Kyouko wondered if its footsteps wouldn't echo.

The Radix raised its spear, a red black, twisted thing, mirroring Kyouko's stance exactly.

"Okay," The redhead muttered as the monster seemed to almost smile at her.

"I'm guessing you're ready, then."

She lunged forward, and the battle began in earnest.

* * *

><p>The wind screamed past Homura's ear like a wailing siren being dragged to its death, but she did her best to ignore it as her wings struggled to support the weight of three people. Saki was hanging for dear life with her arms wrapped tightly around Homura's abdomen, and Mami was hanging onto Saki in the same way. The girls alone added over two hundred pounds of additional weight, and this hampered progress.<p>

Still, Homura was not to be denied. With one final blast of magic, she thrust her wings as hard as magically possible and glided over the edge of the hospital roof, dispelling her wings as soon as their feet touched solid ground. Saki rushed over to assist Mami, who for some reason still seemed traumatized by what she had just seen.

But she didn't have time to worry about that. "Stay here," She shouted, already running for the edge of the roof. "Wait for Kyubey. I'm getting Kyouko, and then we're getting the hell out of here."

Saki rose. "I thought we were going to fight it?" She asked, though even her voice wavered.

Homura's eyes flickered as she let herself fall off the roof.

"Not this time. We would only endanger ourselves."

Twisting midair, she let gravity drag her down to the floor she had just been on, praying to the Goddess the entire trip down.

* * *

><p>Their spears crashed together with the force of two boulders colliding, a shower of sparks flying through the air like fireworks.<p>

Kyouko's arms trembled as they absorbed the impact of the demon's blow; the Radix was incredibly strong, certainly as strong as her, perhaps even stronger. It was fast, too. A mere half second after having its blow parried, the Radix pulled back and swung a second time, this time for her head. Kyouko barely brought her own spear up in time to deflect the attack, the enemy's weapon coming so close to shearing her ear that she heard the metal's note singing through the air.

Gritting her teeth, she leapt back before launching herself forward again, deciding to pin it down under a flurry of blows. She rained down attack after attack on the Radix in quick succession, attacking with an almost wild abandon as she focused entirely on keeping the monster from moving from its spot. Her internal timer told her that she had twenty four seconds left.

That was too long, it seemed. On her next jab, Kyouko lunged just a little bit too far, overextending herself enough to give her enemy an opening. Ducking under the sweep of her spear, the anomaly turned and kicked her hard in the stomach.

It was like getting hit by a truck. A strangled noise squeaked out of her throat a second before she was blasted back, slamming into the wall beside the window so hard that she sent cracks webbing through the plaster. The impact shook the walls around them, and the shelves began to collapse upon them selves. Kyouko groaned in intense pain as gas-filled canisters began raining down around them, clanging against the floor like a discorded set of cathedral bells.

The Radix gave her no room to breathe. Of course it wouldn't. The thing was on her in a nanosecond, blinking its way across the room and bringing its spear down towards her head.

Running purely on survivalist instinct, Kyouko raised one hand above her head and summoned the thickest shield she could manage.

A seven-inch thick crimson disc the size of a frying pan appeared between her skull and the spear just before she would have lost her head, and the spearhead collided with the barrier instead. It did absolutely nothing to faze the Radix, but it bought her enough time to roll away from being pinned against the wall. She got to her feet just in time to parry the next set of blows.

She didn't know what was going on outside of their own personal fighting world anymore. That was the only way for her to stand her ground against such a ridiculously powerful opponent; block everything else out. The room spun dizzyingly around her as she twirled her spear in violent, desperate circles, pulling off moves she had never tested outside of her own imagination before, jabbing and slashing and blocking at an increasing pace. It wasn't that she wanted to intensify the battle; the anomaly was actually forcing her to speed up, increasing the tempo of its attacks at such an alarming rate that she could barely keep up. In fact, she almost didn't. She lost the last two inches of her ponytail, the hems of her coattails were tattered because their radius was too wide to cover, and she thought the tip of her left ear might be torn.

Her environment didn't fare so well, either. It was a large room, but certainly not big enough to give two magical entities the space they needed to properly duke it out. Kyouko accidentally slashed or dented a dozen gas canisters on more than one occasion, sending the steel containers spinning and flying around the room and adding to the already burgeoning chaos. Several of the caps on the canisters burst and allowed their contents to seep into the atmosphere, the hissing sound of escaping gas filling the room with its ambience.

They spun around each other in a whirlwind of strikes, and the showers of sparks surrounding them were so numerous that she felt like she was in the _middle_ of the fireworks now, rather than being a mere observer. Then she made a mistake; she overextended again, leaving a small hole in her defense, but it was one that her opponent noticed, and sure enough the black spear darted forward to exploit it.

She knew that if she took that spear in the gut, she wasn't going to be able to keep her promise.

Thinking fast, Kyouko flicked her wrist and plunged the tip of her spear into the heart of a canister that was sitting across her feet.

A thick plume of some gas mushroomed out immediately, throwing up a wall of murky particles between the two of them and sending both reeling back in shock; Kyouko hadn't had the time to get herself out of the way first. Stumbling backwards, she fell against the wall she had cracked earlier, but not before hurling her spear across the room like an errant javelin.

The weapon streaked through the cloud of gas, splitting the stuff down the middle and giving Kyouko a clear view of its path, headed straight for the disoriented Radix's abdomen.

She prayed.

The anomaly jerked and swept its spear across its body, deflecting the makeshift javelin at the last moment.

She cursed.

What had been a small mistake had become an opportunity, but she had squandered it. Now she stood with no weapon, and her shields wouldn't hold off her enemy for very long.

She checked her internal timer. Two seconds.

She hoped Homura was a punctual person.

One second.

The Radix lunged for her neck.

Kyouko closed her eyes, summoning a barrage of shields that she knew would be useless.

Zero.

_Click._ The timer stopped, and the cracked wall behind Kyouko's head caved in to admit her favorite girl in the whole wide world.

The black spear was parried mere inches away from the redhead's nose, and when Kyouko looked up she was amazed to see that Homura had blocked the weapon by firing an arrow into its side. Time seemed to slow again, but this time Kyouko didn't know if it was magic or not. It seemed to her that Homura took in the room, the Radix, the broken canisters and the gas spewing out of them all at once, and in that moment understood everything.

Grabbing Kyouko by the waist, Homura lit the flare and flew out the window.

An intense wave of heat seared Kyouko's back as the flare ignited the gallons of flammable gas that had been released into the atmosphere, setting off a chain reaction and essentially detonating the entire floor within a ball of fire. Homura grabbed Kyouko's head and pushed it down roughly to protect it from the flaming chunks of metal that streaked past them, her flight path faltering when pieces of debris struck her wings.

When the explosions stopped, Homura wasted no time. She alighted atop the building, where Mami, Saki, and Kyubey all rushed towards them.

Turning around for a moment, Kyouko took in the destruction they had caused to the building a little guiltily. An entire floor was consumed in raging gas-fueled flames, another level had a collapsed roof, and there were probably a bunch of holes from where the demons had missed them and hit the walls instead.

[_You think it's dead?_] Kyouko asked hopefully as they all prepared the necessary magic for their escape.

[_If only the world were so simple._ _It is only preoccupied. We need to get out of here while we still can._]

Meanwhile, Saki was still trying to comfort a distraught Mami.

"It's here," The blonde said shakily, gripping at her head. "It's here."

"No, Mami," Saki insisted. "It's there. Not here. You're fine."

But Mami shook her head, looking Saki straight in the eye and clutching at her chest.

"No," She whispered.

"It's _here_."

* * *

><p><strong>I felt bad for not updating for a while so I wrote an extra long chapter for you guys! I hope anyone who reads this enjoys it. <strong>

**What do you guys think of Saki so far? What's your opinion on the Radix? Please leave any feedback in the reviews. It is always appreciated.**

**-Banshee**


	15. Self Reflections

Chapter 15: Self Reflections

Waiting was probably the worst part of it.

Homura hated waiting. While most would have pointed out that this stood in direct contrast to her personally, which essentially radiated the virtues of patience and meticulous planning, she knew that the two weren't exactly related. At least when she was carrying out a plan she was the one in control, no matter how long it took to complete.

She didn't feel in control now. And she didn't like it at all.

She wasn't used to running away from fights. It felt almost wrong, because it had been so long since the last time a battle hadn't begun and concluded in the same day. But it wasn't as if this was the beginning of such a phenomenon, she thought. After all, their battle against the Radix had begun months ago, on that cold night where she had come close to losing her mind.

Returning home to find a hiding place was second nature, of course. They had been forced by circumstance to take refuge within the Kaname residence, but now that Homura was fully aware of her surroundings she had felt the need to choose somewhere familiar. And the only place where she would have that sensation was within the straight and orderly walls of her secluded apartment building.

"Ouch," Kyouko said blandly when Homura dropped alcohol on one of her open cuts.

"Shush," The time traveler muttered as she reached behind her and started cutting out pieces of bandage. "You brought it upon yourself."

The redhead watched her partner gently dress her wounds. "You don't have to do that," She pointed out, shifting in her seat on the couch. "My magic could take care of it easily."

"You shouldn't be so frivolous with your magic," Homura murmured in response, but Kyouko suspected that the raven haired girl simply needed a way to feel responsible.

There had been surprisingly few complications regarding their escape. Saki had summoned another bubble to avoid detection, and for some reason the lesser demons hadn't chosen to pursue them; they hovered over the burning hole in the side of the hospital instead, as if standing in silent vigil. It was then that Homura had made the choice of their hiding place.

"I don't know how we're going to explain this one," Kyouko said suddenly, wincing slightly when Homura tugged the bandages so that they were firmly secure. "I mean, we've dealt collateral damage before. Hell, you blew up a alley just a few months ago." The redhead pursed her lips. "But burning down a hospital, I don't know..."

"There weren't any patients in the floors above Mami's room," Homura replied calmly, rising to her feet and taking a seat on the couch behind Kyouko. "And we learn in school that hospitals have the best anti-incendiary structures in the city. The fire would never spread beyond that single floor."

"You know what I mean," Kyouko sighed as Homura motioned for her to turn around. The redhead obliged, shimmying to the side on the couch cushions until her back was resting softly against the time traveler's chest. "Blowing up Mitakihara General isn't exactly a good way to stay under the radar."

She couldn't see it, but she knew through instinct that her partner was pursing her lips in a vexed manner. Homura quietly began to dress the wound on Kyouko's right ear, maintaining her silence as she wet a cloth with more alcohol and dabbed at the bloody tip of flesh.

"I wouldn't have had to blow anything up if it weren't for a certain somebody," The time traveler replied at last.

Kyouko stilled, thinking at first that the girl was talking about her, but soon realized her true meaning. "You blame Mami."

"Of course I do," Homura said, adding another helping of alcohol and drawing a terse groan from the redhead. She murmured a brief apology. "This isn't even about personal bias anymore...even having her here endangers us. We don't know anything about her mental condition, or whether she's fit to defend herself should the need arise...I don't need more ways that one of us could get killed, Kyouko."

Kyouko tilted her head down ever so slightly and drew out a convoluted pattern on the couch cushions. "But the bottom line is that we did save her, and she could be of use when we _really_ take on that demon," She said, trying to appeal to the logic that Homura so obviously adored. "And besides..." She paused, a rare instance of the girl considered her words before she said them. "You can't stay angry with her forever. Whether you like it or not, Mami is going to part of our lives now and in the future. Do you want to be so cold to someone like that?"

She felt the time traveler shifting nervously behind her, and for a moment there was only the faint tingle of the alcohol on her ear. "I can't force myself to like someone, Kyouko."

The redhead sighed internally. She knew that, of course. Even she was upset with what Mami had become these last few months, but she was much more disposed to forgive the blonde than Homura was. Sometimes internal change was virtually impossible to achieve.

Then an idea bred to life inside her, and spark of long lost mischief arose in her chest.

Maybe she would have to apply outside influence, then.

"Then what if _I_ force you to like her?" Kyouko asked slyly, turning around until her nose was directly in front of Homura's.

The smaller girl blinked at the sudden change in face, her cheeks coloring ever so slightly when she noted the proximity of their lips. "I...I'd like to see you try," She finally muttered in response, not one to back down in an argument.

Kyouko grinned. "Is that a challenge?" She asked softly, turning around completely so that she could push Homura down on her back, settling down over her partner with her hands on either side of the time traveler's body.

Homura went beet red immediately, a reaction so easy and expected that it sent a triumphant rush through Kyouko's chest. "I...uh, I suppose you could assume-" She stuttered, eyes whizzing around to look anywhere but at the redhead's eyes as she stumbled for words.

Kyouko didn't care that they had just finished running away from a killer demon horde. She had been under stress for weeks and she needed to unwind. And what better way was there than messing with Homura?

"Well, if you ask _me_, I think the two of you need to make up," The redhead said softly, making herself comfortable on top of Homura in a way that made the smaller girl yelp and reach up to cover her mouth. But Kyouko wouldn't allow it, bringing their faces so close together that they were practically sharing breaths.

"Is..." Homura's eyes traveled almost lazily downwards, so obvious in what they were fixated on that it was borderline comical. Kyouko had to suppress the urge to laugh right in the girl's face. "Is there some sort of incentive?"

"Oh, I don't know," Kyouko replied, flicking out her tongue to wet her lower lip in a way that made Homura gulp. "Do you need one?"

Homura narrowed her eyes and looked away, obviously irked. "Don't act like you don't know what I mean, you idiot..."

"I'll take that as a yes," Kyouko smirked before locking their lips together.

It wasn't tender like the last. No, this one was a little different, not completely innocent in its intentions, driven by ulterior motives, and somehow that made it infinitely better. Homura tried and failed to stop a small _mph_ from escaping her throat, making Kyouko laugh against her mouth at the obvious attempt at self restraint. Shoulders that had been tense in anticipation finally relaxed into the cushions, and Kyouko took this opportunity to pin Homura's wrists against the couch, the air slowly filling with soft sighs and murmured sweet nothings as the two of them chose to push away the outside world, if only for one precious moment.

Kyouko knew that she would have to take the lead if this was going to work, and she did just that, tilting her head and deepening the kiss. It was still clumsy, still tainted by lack of experience, but somehow that made it more raw. They both moaned softly when Kyouko's tongue slipped and brushed against Homura's the brief flash of contact opening up a whole new set of doors. It distracted the redhead so much that she didn't notice that she had lost her grip on one of Homura's wrists, giving the smaller girl free rein to start tangling her fingers in her hair. Kyouko quickly realized this, however, and regained control by shifting her hips and making the time traveler gasp in surprise.

"Tease," Homura muttered in annoyance, pulling apart from Kyouko for just a moment to let the vindicating words out. But the redhead completely ignored her, instead taking the opportunity to slip their lips between each other, sucking gently on the tender flesh she held between her teeth. That drew a strangled inhale out of the normally girl, and Homura could swear she heard Kyouko giggle for a moment as she struggled to find a balance between her grasp on reason and the heat incinerating her chest.

Then Kyouko's hands fisted in her hair, and she forgot about control.

Homura knew that this wasn't the right place, or the right time. There were the demons, Kyouko's wounds still needed bandaging, Saki and Mami were in the next room...all the arguments against her current actions crowded in the back of her mind, and she chose to ignore every last one of them, finally finding her self able to throw everything else away in favor of something better, something she hadn't known she needed.

They broke apart with a harsh, synchronized exhale, and Homura expected them to resume where they had left off.

So of course, that was exactly when Kyouko chose to pull away.

Homura had to try immensely hard to check a disappointed sigh when the redhead extended her arms until she had put a full ten inches between them, a self satisfied smile lingering on the spear wielder's face.

Sensing Homura's confusion, Kyouko let go of the girl's wrists and said, "You'll get the rest of it _when_ you promise to make up with Mami."

Internally, Homura whimpered. Since when had kisses become something they could bargain with?

Part of her considered refusing simply to spite the redhead, as well as save at least an ounce of her own pride, but she knew that would be counterproductive. If not this way, Kyouko would find another method to get what she wanted. The girl was resourceful, if nothing else.

She was broken out of her reverie when Kyouko shifted again and the redhead's hair tickled her cheek, drawing the time traveler's eyes to the confident smile on the older girl's face, a smile that told her than Kyouko knew how this argument was going to end. It seemed that she had finally found a way to beat Homura where logic failed her. The prospect was absolutely terrifying.

Closing her eyes and biting her lip in frustration, Homura sighed and said softly,

"...Fine. I promise."

Kyouko snickered and leaned down to give her girlfriend what she wanted. "Thought so."

The redhead's tongue had just barely reached out to flick at Homura's upper lip when the door was thrown wide open.

"I've finished purifying Mami," Saki announced, walking in briskly with the aforementioned blonde in tow. "I think it's time we talk about-" She spotted the couple and stopped dead in her tracks.

There was a long moment of stunned silence, as Kyouko gulped and Homura paled dramatically.

Homura's reaction to getting caught was so ridiculous that Kyouko would remember it and laugh many times in the future. Eyes going as wide as plates, the girl let loose a strangled _nnnnggll! _and began to thrash, kicking Kyouko clear off the couch and onto the floor with a solid _wump._

"Ow!" The redhead yelled, curling into the fetal position as she cradled her head. "I thought you were trying to _heal_ my wounds, god dammit!"

"Shut up!" Homura hissed, her face as red as the blood slowly leaking out of Kyouko's newly injured ear. "This entire situation is all your fault!"

Meanwhile, Mami tugged shakily at Saki's sleeve, who turned around curiously.

"Um, they were..." The blonde muttered, pointing at the couple with a shaking finger. "Saki-chan, they were..."

"Um, yeah," The illusionist said as neutrality as possible, though she probably still sounded a little bemused. "They were. I guess it's a thing. Let's give them a few moments, okay?" She suggested, dragging a still stuttering Mami towards the door.

"B-But they were-" The blonde insisted again, still totally disoriented.

"Yes, yes, Mami, I know. I know," Saki chuckled before slamming the door shut behind them.

Kyouko regarded the closed door for a moment, before turning to look at her girlfriend, who was still staring angrily back at her.

"Uh, so..." The redhead started, tilting her head as innocently as possible.

"Did you want to pick up where we left off?"

"Shut _up_."

* * *

><p>"Okay," Saki said authoritatively, clearing her throat with unnecessary clarity. "So, if we're all ready and decent for presentation, I think we should begin."<p>

Both Homura and Kyouko blushed deeply in their seats.

The four of them were sitting in a tight circle around the central couches that dominated Homura's living room, settling into a configuration that had been surprisingly natural to them; Homura and Kyouko beside each other, with Mami and Saki both facing them. To Homura, it meant that she was flanked by both the redhead and the illusionist, placing her as far away from a certain blonde as possible. She found that she preferred it this way.

"First of all, I think we need to check up on a certain someone," Kyouko followed up, using her eyes to direct their attention to Mami, who blinked back at them. "That is, we need to see how Mami's doing."

"Yes, of course," Saki readily agreed, turning to place her hand over Mami's with surprising familiarity. The other two girls both arched an eyebrow, while the blonde simply smiled awkwardly at the contact. "You must be shaken after going through all that without magic. Are you still hurting anywhere at all?"

"Ah...no, I'm fine, really," Mami assured her, squeezing Saki's hand back to prove her point. The illusionist smiled in satisfaction and resumed her earlier position.

[_Do you think we should bring it up?_] Kyouko asked Homura through telepathy, reaching out and touching the girl's arm to get her attention. [_About Saki being family, I mean. Apparently Mami doesn't know about that part, but it might not even be true to begin with..._]

[_Let's wait and see,_] Homura replied prudently, keeping quiet and composed as the two blondes across from her asked each other a few more murmured questions. [_I want to observe Saki's behavior around Mami before we stage any confrontation. Her attitude might reveal her true identity._]

She could feel the mocking smile on the redhead's lips. [_You're the boss._]

[_Mmph..._] Homura muttered back, reaching forward to pick up one of the pre-prepared cups of tea ringing the central table. [_Doesn't feel that way._]

Kyouko snorted. [_Fine, you can be on top next time. Happy?_]

Homura flushed to the roots of her hair. [_Why must you assume that I was talking about that?_]

[_Well, weren't you?_]

[_I mean-_]

"Um, Homura?" Saki's voice broke through their conversation, dividing their attentions.

Homura looked up, and it was then that she realized that she had become too absorbed in her conversation with Kyouko. The two of them had actually been staring intently at each other for the past several moments, which had prompted the two blondes to stare rather dubiously at the two of them. Well, one looked more amused than the other. The second looked horribly conflicted.

"I was just asking what you think we should do next," The illusionist prompted her, obvious mirth sparkling in her eyes. Homura felt rather small before the older girl; she didn't appreciate the feeling at all. It was almost like the illusionist knew something she didn't.

"I, uh..." The time traveler scrambled briefly for words. "You seem to more know about Radix behavior than I do. What is your opinion?" She finally settled with saying, knowing it was unlike her to request a second opinion but having no choice.

"Well, as I was just trying to explain to Mami, I think I can predict where the Radix will head next," Saki said, wrapping her thin fingers around her own cup of tea. "You see, Radixes aren't very prone to settling down in a specific area like their lesser cousins; they constantly search for the next most abundant source of energy, and will probably go through great lengths to reach these places."

Mami was staring at her. Homura didn't quite feel like pretending that she hadn't noticed, so she turned her head slightly at met the blonde's golden irises head on. The other girl blinked and actually flushed slightly before averting her gaze. Another question formed in Homura's mind.

"That said, distance has nothing to do with where a Radix will eventually migrate to," Saki continued, pausing to take a sip of Earl Gray. "Even if it takes weeks, they are disposed to completely abandon a city if it becomes necessary. All they care about is finding the next most recent wish location."

"So we just need to figure out where that would be, and wait for them," Homura concluded, earning a nod from the illusionist.

A heavy thinking silence settled over the three of them, as Mami seemed to lose herself in the web of her hands.

"No one else has been contracted in Mitakihara besides Hanezawa-san and Mami," Homura deduced, narrowing her eyes and bringing her steepled hands up to her nose. "And since the Radix isn't heading for wherever Mami's wish location is, someone else in this region must have contracted between those times."

It took another several moments for the rest of them to figure out what the time traveler had discovered sooner than them, but soon enough three pairs of eyes alighted upon a certain redhead.

Kyouko stared almost defiantly back at them.

"My wish location," She said needlessly, crossing her arms over her chest. "The Sakura Church."

"I see," Saki realized softly, easily realizing that they were treading on delicate ground; the inspiration behind a girl's wish was always a tender topic. "The Sakura Church...I've heard of it before. Where was it again?"

"Kazamino," Homura answered for her, deciding that the redhead probably didn't feel like talking about such a buried past. "The next city over. Just one night by train."

"Looks like we're headed for Kazamino, then," Saki said with an air of finally, clasping her hands together on the table.

"Wait."

All eyes shifted to Mami.

"What you're basically saying is that sooner or later, this...'Radix' will leave Mitakihara, right?" The blonde continued nervously, as if praying that her information was not incorrect. "Meaning it won't be here to bother us anymore."

It was at this moment that Homura realized the truth. The reason why she hated seeing Mami in such a pitiful state. It wasn't compassion, or some basic sense of caring she carried around with her. No, it was disgusting to her because she knew how the blonde felt. Not six months ago, Homura would have been the one arguing to let the Radix go because it would not longer be their problem, and Mami would have been the one pushing them all to pack their bags, book the next train to Kazamino, insisting all the while that _this_ was there responsibility as magical girls, to protect the weak, to face the greatest evils when no one else could.

And now that their roles were switched, Homura could only see a reflection of the cold and selfish girl she had once been. She wouldn't have made her arguments with such cowardice, of course, but the ideas were the same, the problems were the same. What had changed? She actually had someone else to protect, to begin with.

It took her another second to find that they had swapped those, too. Mami had always claimed to fight for all magical girls, but Homura suspected that this really only included Kyouko and, perhaps, herself. Now she wondered how Mami felt, to come back only to find that Kyouko wasn't all hers anymore, that the redhead had someone else to watch her back now.

She wondered how that would feel.

She didn't like what she came up with.

"We can't just leave it at that, I'm afraid," Saki said, almost apologetically. At least Mami didn't look to surprised by the response, just crushingly disappointed. "We can't count on another group of girls taking down this enemy, especially when we're probably the only ones who truly understand the Radix. No, it has to be me," The illusionist finally concluded, shaking her head as if this were the only possible option. Then she caught herself. "Us, I mean."

Homura knew this wasn't a good time to note that particular slip and was forced to let it go. She wondered when she would be able to resurface all these postponed questions. "So, we're headed to Kazamino," She surmised, tapping out a rapid beat on the edge of the table. "How are we getting there? I don't think it would be very economical for me to fly us there."

"Train is probably the best option," Kyouko reasoned. "It's fast, and they all run on computers now, so we won't have to worry about hiding our magic. We can probably book the next trip to Kazamino online."

"I've never been to Kazamino before, so I'll let you handle that part," Homura replied, finishing the rest of her tea. "Do try not to screw up."

"Oh, please. I never screw up."

Homura stared. "Really."

The redhead curved her lips bemusedly and forced the time traveler to lose the staring contest. "Really."

Homura blinked and cleared her throat unnecessarily, reopening her eyes to focus more shrewdly on Mami. "With that settled, I think our first priority right now is getting Mami back up to speed," She said blandly. "You probably haven't transformed in weeks, and we'll need you running hot if we're going to fight properly."

The blonde's eyes went wide. "I..." She averted her gaze. "I need to fight that thing?"

A vein throbbed behind the time traveler's head, but she checked it. "Yes," She replied curtly, trying to leave no room for protest. "The three of us alone weren't enough to stand a chance. Even if we have the element of surprise and a plan, there is no guarantee of success. In fact, having you isn't a guarantee of success either," She added on second thought. "But I would rather be four than three."

But Mami only managed to irk Homura further by violently shaking her head. "I-I can't do it," She almost hissed, gripping her cup hard enough to crack the ceramic. "I can't go back in there. Not after what happened...I never want to see another demon again!"

"That isn't something you can control, Mami," Kyouko said sternly. Homura felt a burst of relief; she had been briefly fearful that the redhead would be sympathetic for the blonde. "You can't stop being a magical girl. You'll always be able to see the demons. The only thing you _can_ control is whether or not you get killed by one, and the only way to do that is to fend for yourself."

"I know that," Mami spat almost vehemently, but she quickly suppressed her tone when she remembered that she was supposed to be the victim. "I know that," She murmured a second time, more quietly. "I'm just not ready."

Homura saw that Saki was about to say something and moved to cut her off. "And why is that, exactly?" She asked, setting her cup down with a loud _clack._ "You're fully purified now thanks to Saki's kindness, and you've had an entire month to rest your mind. What could _possibly_ be holding you back?"

[_Pull your reins in, Homura,_] Kyouko warned her. [_We don't want to make her less confident than she already is._]

Homura knew that she was probably making a mistake if _Kyouko_ was the one telling her to calm down, but for once she didn't feel like checking herself. Here was the girl whose folly had nearly killed them countless times. The small reasons she had found to save Mami earlier all seemed to dissipate like a mirage in the face of her current insecurity. It made her realize that the last time she had spoken with Mami, she had been angry. And the time before that, she had been angry. Anger. The girl only brought anger.

Might as well continue the trend.

"I...I just can't do it," Mami insisted again, clasping her hands together on her lap. "My mental wounds are still fresh. I need some time before I can consider-"

"Shut up."

The blonde blinked and raised her head. "What?"

"Shut up," Homura growled once more, this time with more emphasis to make her stance perfectly clear. "You keep making excuses for yourself. You're _always_ making excuses for yourself. When was the last time you really buckled down and tried to endure something you found unpleasant? When was the last time you made a _sacrifice_?"

"Homura!" Saki said angrily, balling her fists in indignation, but Homura ignored her. She had already begun. Time to finish what she had started.

"You act as if you're the only magical girl in the world," The time traveler sneered, getting to her feet so that she loomed over the cowering Mami. "As if you're the only one with _problems._ I'm sorry to disappoint you, Tomoe-san, but there are people who have it much worse than you. People in this very room, in fact. Always playing the victim, always playing the heroine forced by circumstance...how do you think that makes you look in the eyes of people who have _really_ struggled?"

"But I _have_ struggled!" Mami shouted, burying her face in her hands. "I don't have anything left anymore. Family, friends, the will to fight...what else is there? Nothing!" She cut her hand angrily through the air, forcing Homura back a step. "I had only the best of intentions. How is it not a struggle to watch all of your hopes and dreams crumble to the floor, watch you normal life slip away to be replaced by demons, and slowly lose everything precious to you? How is that _not_ a struggle?" Mami repeated, borderline screaming now.

Kyouko got up and tried to pry the two of them apart, but Homura held her back with one extended arm. "I don't judge people by their intentions," She said coldly, eyes as hard and unforgiving as flint. "I judge them by their actions. And in times of need, you have always failed to pull through for the rest of us. And _that_ is where I find your fault."

Mami glared lividly back at her, eyes shining with horrid inspiration, her classically refined ringlets completely askew and disheveled. She was the very figure of disorientation, of someone who had lost something so vitally important that she didn't know what to do with herself, like a fly without its wings, like a girl without her soul.

Homura saw this, and it was like looking into a mirror.

She was genuinely disgusted with herself.

"We leave in the morning," She said softly, turning and gathering up the cups before striding slowly into the kitchen. "With or without you."

To be honest, she preferred the latter.

* * *

><p>Homura was outside trying to finish the rest of her tea when Kyubey interrupted.<p>

[_I see that the situation is evolving quickly,_] The alien said, appearing out of thin air as he always did, balancing precariously on the railing of the balcony.

She was standing on the small veranda that extended from the largest window of her room, looking over the city below her, which was frozen in time as if her magic were effecting all of Mitakihara. Maybe that was why she felt so drained.

[_I don't need your assessment,_] Homura replied blandly, sipping gingerly at her tea. The wind sent shivers down her spine, but she ignored it.

[_I wasn't going to give one_,] Kyubey replied as if it were a matter of fact, and knowing the alien it probably was.

"Mmm," Homura muttered. "What do you think about the move to Kazamino? Can we trust Saki's judgment?"

Kyubey twitched his ears. [_This time I find no reason to distrust her. Her claims are in line with our knowledge of Radixes, and even so it is a logical deduction. Of course, the question of how she knows all this is still up in the air._]

She shook her head. "That girl's such an enigma that I've almost come to expect it."

[_Don't let your guard down. We can't assume she has our best interests in mind._]

"I know that."

"What do you know?"

Stiffening, Homura turned and looked through the opening behind her to find Saki herself standing in the doorway, one hand on the worn wooden frame.

"Just talking to myself," She muttered in reply, eyes darting to the side for a moment to find that Kyubey had disappeared again. He didn't seem quite fond of interacting with Saki. "How are things going downstairs?"

The illusionist shrugged. "Kyouko's talking to Mami. Trying to convince her to see things our way."

"Shouldn't you be down there too?" Homura wondered aloud, leaving the veranda and closing the window behind her. The moan of the wind abruptly cut off. "I mean, you seem to care for her very much."

Saki smiled. "I'm not as experienced as Kyouko," She said simply. "She would do a better job than me."

"I see."

The older blonde took a moment to absorb the room around her as Homura shifted uncomfortably. It wasn't that she minded having other people seeing her room; it had just occurred to her that this was the first time the two of them were alone together.

"I'm sorry for getting angry earlier," Saki said suddenly, pacing across the room to observe a row of meaningless photos framed on the wall. "I only added to the fires. A mistake on my part."

Homura found the apology almost laughable. She had completely gone off on Mami herself, after all. "I don't blame you," She replied, crossing her arms and watching the older girl. "That girl invites agitation."

"Mph," Saki muttered. "What pisses you off so much about her?"

Homura blinked. "Didn't I make that obvious?"

The blonde hummed. "I don't know you very well, Akemi-san. But I don't think you're the kind of person to let something like Mami's problems bother you so much. There's something different about it this time, I think. Something that makes her weakness that much more unbearable."

Homura stared. This girl was dangerously perceptive. She crossed the room and sat on the edge of her bed, making sure she faced the blonde fully as she waited for her to continue.

"Something personal, maybe," Saki resumed, reaching out to touch one of the photos before turning away from the wall. "Or a bad memory. I don't know. Sorry, I've started to ramble...it's none of my business, after all," She finished, smiling sheepishly to herself as she turned to face the raven haired girl.

"You're right."

Saki opened her eyes. "I am?"

Homura didn't know what she was doing. She had always avoided talking about her past to anyone, even with Kyouko, because it was always so hard to make them believe her. It had become second nature for her to act as if it had never happened. But that same self-disgust was still lingering in her soul, driving her to do things she normally wouldn't have done.

"I...also lost someone, in the past," Homura began slowly, as if unsure. It had been so long since she tried telling this story that she had almost forgotten its details. "Someone very important to me. I did everything I could, but I still lost her." An image of pink and white fluttered at the edge of her mind.

A sympathetic look crossed Saki's face, and for once Homura didn't hate being pitied for something. "I see...your situation matches very closely with Mami's then."

"Yes," Homura said, relieved that she didn't have to explain that part of it. That would have been annoying. "The only difference is, I regained my focus and kept moving forward after it happened. I didn't let it get to me. Mami _wants_ it to get to her. We both feel the same way, but she gets to succumb to it when I don't. Do you see how selfish of her that is? Does she not understand that her circumstances are not the worst?" She said aloud, abruptly stopping when she realized that she was also beginning to ramble.

"Is that the only reason?" Saki asked softly, taking a few tentative steps toward the bed.

Homura gritted her teeth. "No. I'm not some sort of stone cold warrior. I'm not a machine that can keep running forever. I have weaknesses. I have complexes. People just don't know about them. Mami, on the other hand..."

Saki smiled wanly. "You envy her, don't you?"

Homura paused, taking several seconds to consider how ridiculous that idea was, before realizing that it was actually the best expression of her emotions. She envied Mami Tomoe. Who would have thought.

"Mami Tomoe is not an evil person," Saki murmured thoughtfully. "Just an unfortunate soul, destroyed by circumstance...but aren't we all? I suppose that is why you find her argument to be so invalid...but I hope that you can find that as common ground to understand her, eventually. Magical girls are more alike than we seem."

Homura stared at the ground. "Then I'll just see reflections of myself everywhere I go."

Saki smiled, her signature expression.

"Sometimes we need our demons to stare us right in the face."

And then she was gone, passing through the door as Kyouko happened to walk in.

The redhead turned to watch the illusionist go, then turned towards Homura, questions written all over her face. The time traveler simply shrugged.

"I booked four seats to Kazamino for tomorrow," Kyouko decided to start with, walking into the room with her arms folded behind her head. "Earliest shuttle I could find was six in the morning. It's a long trip, after all. We should get some sleep while we still can."

"And Mami?"

Kyouko's expression changed. "I talked to her. She says she'll come with us," The redhead shrugged as if it didn't matter to her, but Homura knew better.

Homura _hmmed._

"Oh come on," Kyouko cajoled, slapping Homura on the back and ruffling her hair. "What's the worst that could happen? It's just a trip to the next city!"

The shield user frowned. "When you say it like that, it just makes me feel more like something bad will happen."

Kyouko tilted her head. "Really? Well, not to worry! Kazamino's my home turf!" The redhead thumped her chest proudly.

"Looks like you'll be the one in charge, for once."

"Tch. I'm _always_ in charge. You just don't know it."

Homura smiled bemusedly. "I'm sure you are."

"Why, what's the matter?" Kyouko asked her teasingly, coming intentionally closer. "Want me to prove it to you?"

Homura flushed slightly and pushed the redhead away. "No thanks. I don't doubt your authority."

"Didn't think so."

Homura rolled her eyes. "Right. Now could we get some sleep, please?" She asked in exasperation, gesturing suggestively towards the bed.

Kyouko smirked. "Is that an invitation?"

"_No._"

* * *

><p><em>Brrr. Brrr. Brrr.<em>

When the alarm clock's buzzing woke Homura from her sleep, the first thing she saw was the nape of Kyouko's neck.

Blinking and raising her bleary eyes slightly upward, she realized that the two of them must have rolled towards each other in their sleep. It took her another moment to realize that she didn't have to recoil at the realization anymore. Being able to simply stay there was so much easier.

Kyouko was still asleep and snoring her head off, and for a moment Homura wanted to close her eyes again and reclaim the wonders of sleep. But then she remembered the alarm, and the demons, and the universe in general.

_Sigh._

Untangling herself from Kyouko's arms, she stuck her arm out from under the sheets to shut off the alarm, shivering slightly when the cold morning air struck her exposed skin; it was much warmer under the blanket. This accomplished, she turned and started to tackle her next task: waking up Kyouko, which never proved to be easy.

She opted to try coaxing first. "Kyouko, get up," Homura said, nudging the girl's forehead with her finger.

There was no response.

Sighing, Homura sat up in the bed and shook the redhead by the shoulder, slapping her face gently. "Come on, Kyouko," She said around a long yawn. "We need to get ready. Train leaves in two hours."

Kyouko just let loose a particularly long snore in response, making Homura grunt in irritation. She considered taking a pistol out of storage and firing a blank next to the redhead's ear. That was how she usually did it, but she didn't feel particularly inclined today for some reason. But she still had to get the damn girl up.

Then another idea presented itself to her, one that hadn't been an option before. The thought itself made her bite her lip in nervousness, but the worst part was that she was actually considering it. She looked down at Kyouko's still sleeping form, trying her best to rationalize her way through the situation. She had to do what she had to do, right?

Taking a deep breath, she leaned down and kissed Kyouko squarely on the mouth.

"Mphhhh," The redhead grunted almost immediately upon finding her airflow cut off. Eyes fluttering open, the girl's crimson irises came into contact with Homura's half lidded, lavender ones.

There was a moment of awkward silence.

Coughing, Homura pulled back and wiped her mouth, clearing her throat rather loudly and looking away. "Oh, um...good morning," She muttered, pressing her lips against the back of her hand.

Kyouko stared dumbly back at her. "Uh...good morning?"

"Would you just get up already?" Homura said irritably, not one who took embarrassment very well. "You're hard enough to wake up already."

Kyouko grinned, hands on the edges of the blanket. "I think this should be a thing. Good morning kisses."

Homura paused to think about that for a second before shaking her head violently. "Only if you get the hell up," She bargained.

But Kyouko shut her eyes and pressed her head into the pillow. "Sorry, but Awake Kyouko costs three kisses," She said loudly.

Homura snorted. "That doesn't sound like a very fair exchange."

"Yeah, on my end," The redhead replied with a sly smile.

"You really aren't going to get up?"

"Not till I get paid."

"...There is something deeply wrong with you."

"You knew that going into this."

Homura frowned down at her, though internally she was quietly steeling herself. "Fine," She sighed, trying to inject as much reluctance into the word as possible. "But only this one time," She murmured, leaning over Kyouko's body a second time.

"No promises," The redhead whispered before they embraced.

"How was that?" Kyouko asked when they pulled apart.

Homura wrinkled her nose. "Your breath is stale."

Kyouko rolled her eyes. "Is that really all you have to say about my amazing kisses?"

"I'll be the judge of whether or not your kisses are amazing," Homura replied bluntly, making herself comfortable on top of Kyouko.

"Well, are they?"

The shield user blinked and looked away. "I'm...still thinking about it. Anyways, that's two. Just one more and you're getting your ass out of bed."

"Yes, mother," Kyouko said sarcastically as Homura leaned in to kiss her again.

This one was different. It was deeper, more eager. Maybe because Kyouko was feeling more awake by now. Just as Homura started to squirm on top of her, the redhead turned them both around, the bedpost creaking softly as she somehow placed herself on top instead.

"Hey!" Homura protested, struggling against the firm grip Kyouko had on her wrists. "If you're already awake then go brush your damn teeth!"

"Oh, shut up," The redhead said playfully. "You want to do this too."

"Not if it makes us late, I don't!"

Kyouko spared a cursory glance at the clock. "Jesus, you set the alarm three hours early," She sighed. "We've got plenty of time."

Homura tried to come back with another retort, but Kyouko silenced her with another kiss. This time she added her tongue into the mix to make sure the time traveler would be thoroughly disarmed. Homura groaned in half-shock as Kyouko unapologetically explored the contours of her mouth, the shield user's eyes clouding over as the redhead proceeded to have her way with her. Kyouko almost laughed at how empowered she felt. Finally, a battlefield where she could win every argument. Homura was just so _easy_.

"W-Wait," The time traveler begged her weakly, as Kyouko ignored her in favor of brushing their bare legs together. "This is way more...than three..."

"Price hike," Kyouko mumbled around Homura's tongue, freeing one hand to run her fingers down the length of the shield user's leg. She groaned into Homura's mouth as she felt the creamy skin give beneath her hands. Most people didn't know, but the girl had legs to _die_ for.

"Do you absolutely _have_ to do that?" Homura said through shallow breaths, her voice rising towards the end when Kyouko's hand went much higher than before. Things were moving too quickly for her to keep up. It was awfully disorienting.

"Well," The redhead muttered, moving so that her hips settled over Homura's, "It doesn't help that I have a leg fetish."

Homura blushed badly. "A what?"

"It's this thing where you like-"

"_I know what it is._"

"Oh."

This was bad. She didn't know how far this was going to go, it was three in the bloody morning, and she had a hot mess of a girl straddling her pelvis and explaining the concept of fetishes to her. She needed control, and fast. Twisting her second arm free, Homura tried to push Kyouko off her person.

And that was when she noticed.

"Kyouko," Homura asked slowly, "Where are you pants?"

The redhead blinked and looked down at herself. "Oh. I must have kicked them off overnight," She shrugged.

"Well, put them back on!" Homura yelped, outraged.

"Why? I'm wearing underwear!"

"That is totally beside the point!"

"Oh, please," Kyouko snorted. "We've been making out for the past ten minutes and you choose to make an issue out of this _now_?"

Homura blinked. "It's been ten minutes?!"

"Yes, if you had been paying attention to the clock, you would have known that."

"Would have been a hell of a lot easier to do if I didn't have someone on top of me."

"Yeah, well-"

[_SHUUUUUUUUT UUUUUUUUP!_] Saki's mental transmission blasted through their cortexes, making their vision actually tremble for a moment. [_Jesus Christ, not everybody likes to wake up at three in the bloody morning! Go back to sleep or keep it down!_]

[_...Sorry._]

"This is all your fault," Homura muttered.

"Who kissed me first?"

"Who has a leg fetish?"

"I don't see how that's a problem."

[_What's a leg fetish?_] Mami asked curiously, stunning the two of them into silence.

Kyouko looked at Homura.

[_Nothing, Mami. Go back to sleep._]

[_But I want to know-_]

[_Good night._]

_Click._

* * *

><p><strong>I don't know what it means for things to happen at the appropriate time. So I threw in excess amounts of fluff just because I felt like it.<strong>

**Till next time!**

**~Banshee**


	16. Time Train

Chapter 16: Time Train

"Whew! We were almost late," Saki panted as the four of them jogged to the edge of the train station.

"There _was_ a reason why I set the alarm so early," Homura pointed out irritably. "Traffic was terrible in the snow. It took us a full hour to get here."

The illusionist rolled her eyes. "I doubt the two of you went back to sleep after you woke the rest of us up, anyway."

The time traveler flushed.

"What else could they have been doing?" Mami asked them, sounding genuinely curious. The rest of them stared at her.

"Shut up, Mami," Homura growled, half out of embarrassment.

The blonde looked down, properly quelled. Saki frowned at both of them. Kyouko noticed the significant response as well and felt a strange twist inside. Mami seemed to have retreated into some sort of tentative shell since Homura had blown up at her. Though she didn't exactly blame her girlfriend for losing her temper, she hoped Mami would snap out of it soon. Having a couple magical muskets behind you was never a bad thing, but having a liability was.

"Here comes the train," Saki murmured against the furry coating of her scarf, the on that Homura had reluctantly lent to her. They were all decked out in full winter wear, a haphazard mess of coats and boots, in an attempt to conserve as much magic as possible for the trip ahead.

"That thing's damn fast," Kyouko muttered behind her own set of scarfs. Yes, a set. Homura had been strangely much more willing to lend Kyouko her clothing, going so far as to wrap three of the things around her neck, saying something about catching a cold. The redhead had pointed out that magical girls couldn't catch colds, but this had prompted Homura to clear her throat and launch into a lecture on bio-chemistry, so she had quickly given in.

The train they were all watching approach was different than the tradition image; it consisted not of a row of wheels or a billowing steam engine. No, this train actually _floated;_ specialized magnets lined every millimeter of the track that extended far into the horizon, its electrons linking with the top of the train's charged hood to create a polarizing effect, thus effectively allowing the vehicle to hover in space where it could be propelled forward by various nuclear and quantum energies.

Or at least, that was what Homura had said. Something like that, anyway.

Saki shivered slightly in the wind as the train slowed to an impossibly smooth stop at the station. The cars were chrome plated, sleek, and modern looking. A pair of steam-powered doors slid open with a slight hiss, ready to admit its passengers into its ever mysterious belly. To her, it seemed as if they were about to be swallowed by a magnificent beast.

"How much did these seats cost again?" Homura muttered to herself, digging around in her pockets in search of the receipt.

Kyouko seemed to think. "I don't remember," She said bluntly. "But I chose the earliest ride I saw. I think we get complimentary meals too, which is always a plus."

Homura pulled out the crumpled scrap of paper and scanned it quickly, her face paling when she finally digested its contents. "This is worth a whole month's rent!"

The redhead blinked. "Is that a bad thing?"

"_Yes._"

"Oh."

* * *

><p>The interior of the train was as modern as its exterior. Cheerful cream-colored carpet covered the floor across the entire car, with two rows of seats stretching forward until they met an abrupt end at the opposite chrome plated wall. It was more like the interior of an airplane than a train, the difference only given away by the gentle hum of the machine's engine that permeated the walls around them. Homura swiveled her head to the car attached behind them and saw a row of small, private rooms for sleeping.<p>

"We should be the only ones in this train," Saki said aloud as they all slowly dispersed, taking in their surroundings. Outside, the muted sound of the train's whistled flitted through the air, signaling the beginning of their journey. "Meaning we can discuss strategy and such freely here." She made eye contact with Homura. "And enjoy ourselves, of course."

Kyouko actually snickered, but Homura did not find that funny at all. She elbowed the redhead discreetly, but that just made her laugh harder.

The hum of the engine intensified for a moment, then faded away as the train began to move again. It was a strange feeling; there was no sensation of friction, no sense that they were being pulled along by anything. Rather, it seemed as if the world were streaming away from them, not vice versa. Such was the marvel of modern technology.

[_First, we talk strategy,_] Kyubey said, emerging from within Mami's coat to reveal his baldish head. [_We need to be prepared for the next battle._]

Kyouko sighed. "First, sleeping arrangements," She suggested instead. "I only booked two rooms, and I feel like crashing. The sun hasn't even risen yet."

Homura turned to look out the frosted window and realized she was right. The ever-burning circle of light was hidden behind a constant sheet of ice and gray skies, as if the world were attempting to selfishly keep the sun's warmth to itself, trapping its brilliance within a glimmering wave of monocolor.

"I think the sleeping arrangements are pretty obvious," Saki said bemusedly. "Unless you were looking to sleep with me, Kyouko."

The redhead looked the illusionist up and down once, then shrugged. "You aren't my type."

Homura blinked.

"Well, let's all just put our things away first," Mami suggested diplomatically, and for once they all agreed. Tapping a short access code into a keypad by the door, Saki opened to passageway to the next car and led the four of them inside. The illusionist took the first room on the left, so Homura opted to take the first on the right, pressing her thumb into the keypad to register herself as the room's new owner. The machine clicked affirmatively in response, the thin plated door sliding open to admit her.

"This room's got two beds," Saki called out behind her, as the sounds of Mami pushing their bags into the overhead compartments broke through her words. "How about you?"

Homura scanned the room. "One," She muttered to herself, feeling strangely conflicted about the fact.

"Oh," Saki echoed, crossing the hall and poking her head in to observe the interior. "Well, that shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Homura pursed her lips as she took in the small bunk bed sitting rather innocently in the corner. It wasn't that she minded sleeping with Kyouko, of course. It was just...the bed was so _cramped._ She didn't know what would happen if the two of them spend a night at such close proximity.

"I might not wake up with my virginity," The time traveler sighed.

Kyouko _hmmed._ "Is that a bad thing?"

"Hopefully we won't have to find out."

"Kyubey wants us all to gather so we can talk about a few things," Mami announced, leaning into the room behind Saki. "This is an overnight trip, but he wants to take care of it as quickly as possible."

Kyouko murmured her consent and left the room swiftly, following Mami's lead down the hall. Meanwhile, Saki entered the room and rapped her knuckles loudly against the wall, closing her eyes to absorb the sound. Homura stared at her curiously.

"Just making sure it's soundproof," The illusionist grinned, as Homura blushed angrily. The older girl laughed to herself as she followed the other two down the hall, her voice fading away slowly. The time traveler shook her head as she dropped her things and followed suit. It seemed that her new relationship with Kyouko had the unfortunate side effect of being the butt of Saki's jokes.

[_Before you all disperse to rest, I would like to inform the four of you on the situation in Kazamino,_] Kyubey said, getting straight to the point. The girls sat in a pair of facing seats in the next car, surrounding the alien as they listened. Outside, the world blurred by like an aged film stream.

"Situation?" Kyouko asked. "Has anything changed since I left?"

[_Yes. Very much so, in fact. Kazamino, unlike Mitakihara, is not a city with very high karmic potential; you were the strongest candidate in the entire area, and once you were contracted there was no one else worth pursuing. Fortunately you were powerful enough on your own to lock down the city, but in the wake of you departure necessity has dictated a change in how Kazamino is managed._]

"I always assumed another girl or two would wander by and claim the territory for themselves," The redhead muttered, as she helped herself to a bag of the train's complimentary peanuts. She wrinkled her nose; these were processed. "It's a good hunting ground, after all."

Kyubey nodded. [_Your assumption is correct, but only partially so. Thanks to the lack of karmic energy around Kazamino, the city has instead been populated by a large amount of lesser magical girls; these hunters have learned to band together over time in order to make up for their own lack of power, and have divided Kazamino up among themselves in the past year._]

Homura frowned. "So these are like gangs, controlling small parts of the city?"

[_Yes. The groups number from as little as three to dozens strong; however, the vast majority of them are very prone to violence, and territorial skirmishes break out on a regular basis. No one girl or group is powerful enough to lay claim to the entire city, and the sects are already too hostile towards each other to manage any sort of coalition or compromise. As such, Kazamino has become an extremely sectionalized region in the magical world._]

"Shouldn't the Incubators be looking in this?" Mami asked, a little bit of her old authority seeping into her eyes as she looked at the alien. "It doesn't seem like a very good idea to let these ragtag groups run around the city..."

[_The Grief Seed quotas for the city have not experienced any negative change, so we see no reason to interfere in the established system,_] Kyubey shrugged. [_In fact, the intense atmosphere of competition between the factions has led to a surplus in production._]

"That is beside the point," Homura pointed out, folding her hands over her lap. "How will this affect our entrance into Kazamino? Will they allow us to pass through their territory unharmed?"

Kyubey shook his head. [_I doubt it,_] He said. [_I have been unable to monitor the situation in Kazamino as of late due to all that has happened in Mitakihara, but unless something drastic has avoided my attention, the factions will be very hostile towards any newcomers. They will see us as competition for both territory and Seeds. It is highly unlikely that for significantly powerful Puella Magi will be allowed to pass through the city unbarred._]

"Are you suggesting we fight them, then?" Kyouko asked incredulously, speaking garbled speech around the last of her peanuts. Homura sighed and began to pour the redhead a glass of water to get the stuff down. "They might be weak, sure, but I don't really feel like taking on a bunch of magical girls..."

Kyubey lashed his tail. [_Of course not. That was be illogical,_] He scoffed. [_Saki, did you bring the extra Grief Seeds I told you about?_]

"Yes," The illusionist replied doubtfully, gesturing upwards. "They're in the bags, twenty of them like you asked. What were they for?"

[_They are our ticket into the city,_] The alien responded, sitting back on its haunches. [_Many of the girls in Kazamino know that there are those who simply wish to pass though without causing any trouble. Tourists, nomads. As a result, a small number of them have taken up the business of guaranteeing safe passage._]

"So we pay them with Seeds, and they get us inside without any problems," Homura deduced, sounding disgruntled. "What a crafty business strategy. But twenty Seeds? That is an extremely steep price, Kyubey. How can we know that it wouldn't be easier to simply force our way in?"

[_There are over a hundred fifty Puella Magi in Kazamino,_] Kyubey replied bluntly. [_Weak as they are, taking even some of them in a head on fight would cost us much more than twenty Seeds. These girls are not stupid; they have learned to make up for their weaknesses in order to survive, and will not fall simply to sheer power. Sneaking past them is our best option._]

Homura fell silent at that, accepting the alien's words as being reasonable. She might despise Kyubey, but he was one of the few beings who could trump her in a game of logic. Sometimes she didn't mind being humbled.

"So, this...middle man gets us to the Sakura Church," Mami concluded, twirling a strand of hair thoughtfully with her fingers. "But what about after? Whoever controls that territory isn't going to just let us set up there and wait for the Radix to arrive."

[_No,_] Kyubey agreed. [_That part will have to depend on our situation. If they refuse to negotiate with us, we might be forced to expel them through brute power. Hopefully, they will be agreeable._]

"If these gangs are as hostile and warlike as you say, why would they hear us out at all?" Homura asked as Kyouko nodded in agreement.

[_They are edgy, certainly. But many of them are former nomads, and hunters from far away regions,_] The alien said. [_They will know what a Radix is, at least in concept. If we tell them one is headed straight for the Church, they may be more inclined to assist us._]

"Let's just hope they aren't on their periods when we get to them, then," Kyouko said dubiously in her seat.

[_I consulted the quota reports before leaving Mitakihara,_] Kyubey said. [_The faction in control of the territory around the Sakura Church is a new one; they recently evicted the previous group, which had been in power for some time, so they might not be as weak as the rest. We must proceed with caution._]

"Caution." Kyouko's eyes clouded over. "It's gonna be a great homecoming, for sure." Homura eyed her.

"In any case, let's try to get as much sleep in as we can," Saki suggested, clapping her hands together. "We might not get much of it in Kazamino." The other three voiced their agreement.

* * *

><p>That said, it wasn't easy for the four of them to sleep immediately, regardless of how early they had woken up that morning. It was something about the trip itself, the sensation that they were heading into something bigger than anticipated. Homura didn't like the thought of the rival factions; their numbers, their nature, the risk involved...there was too much potential for something to go wrong. But it wasn't just that. There was this sense of impending doom, the feeling that they were intentionally entering the jaws of a massive beast, with only the sincere prayer than it wouldn't close down and crush them between its jagged teeth. It was this irrational fear that kept her awake that night, and something told her the same thoughts were running through everyone else's heads.<p>

Kyouko sighed something in her sleep; her dreams were rough and unforgiving, cuffing her consciousness around without any semblance of delicacy. It was like struggling through a thick plume of smoke, choking her, filling her lungs with every breath. It had been a long time since her last nightmare. In fact, she hadn't had one since that day at the construction site. Reaching out instinctively, she tried to grab Homura and pull her closer as a source of comfort.

When her hands met only thin air, she was broken out of her uncomfortable slumber.

Opening her eyes blearily, the redhead saw Homura sitting at a cramped table by the train's window, staring thoughtfully out at the landscape galloping smoothly by them. Kyouko regarded the sight quietly for a moment. The time traveler seemed caught deep in her own thoughts, and in that instant she was the very embodiment of mystery. Kyouko saw the air of ambiguity and unknowns that she had first felt upon meeting Homura. It was one of the many things that had drawn her to the shield user, this feeling that there was always something more to the girl than she knew, as if uncovering one answer was only the beginning of another question. Usually she hated seemingly endless tasks, but it was somehow never boring to continue unraveling the thoughts and intricacies of a certain Akemi Homura.

Then a passing chip of rock smacked against the window in passing, making Homura blink, the image shattering gently into nothing.

The time traveler turned her head and saw Kyouko staring at her. "Sorry," She smiled apologetically. "Couldn't sleep."

"It's okay," Kyouko said softly, sitting up in the bed with the sheets still tangled around her. "What's wrong?"

Homura went back to frowning at the window. It was the beginning of night now, and the moon was streaming in brilliantly through the reinforced glass, bathing the small room in its cooling glow. The entire world looked beautifuly ominous under the moon, out here in the middle of nowhere. It made her wish that she could see things like this more often.

"I don't know," She finally said, closing her eyes and cupping her chin in her palm. "I'm just worried, I guess. We don't really know what we're getting into once we enter Kazamino. I don't like not knowing."

"I know what you mean," Kyouko agreed, drawing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. The air around them were still and cold, and it felt like they were alone in the world. "But this isn't the riskiest thing we've ever done."

"No," Homura echoed. "It isn't...I don't know. There's just too much of a 'final battle' feeling I'm getting from their entire trip. And in the numerous ones I've been in, I've always lost something important to me. I don't want that to happen again."

Outside, the train continued on, transforming hopes, dreams, and despair into fuel, transporting them endlessly towards their final destination.

* * *

><p>[<em>We get off here,<em>] Kyubey told them as he leapt off the edge of the seat, walking silently down the carpeted aisle.

"Here? Why now?" Saki asked, even as she reached up and started pulling their things back down to the floor. "We're still on the outskirts."

[_Our mediator will meet us outside of the city,_] Kyubey responded. [_It would be foolish to meet her within Kazamino's limits and intrude on any of the factions' territory. Even being with the mediator does not guarantee our safety; she is but a guide._]

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Homura sighed as she ran one last check on her guns.

"You have a bad feeling about everything," Kyouko scoffed as she shrugged her backpack on her shoulders. Above them, a light blinked on telling them they were nearing the next station.

"Yeah. About you especially," Homura muttered with a small smile, earning her a small jab in the side.

"When you say 'guide'...well, what do you mean exactly?" Mami asked as she eyed the young couple suspiciously. "Don't tell me we're going to be sneaking around the city until we get to the church?"

[_Unless you plan on fighting your way through legions of puella magi, then sneaking around is our best option,_] Kyubey said, sounding awfully exasperated. [_That is the entire purpose for the guide. Without her, we are bound to be discovered sooner or later._]

Mami fell silent, apparently accepting the course of logic, but it was a disgruntled silence. The light above their heads started blinking insistently, and when Homura peeked out the window she saw the faint outline of the station just outside the border of Kazamino rapidly thickening.

"Let's do this carefully," The time traveler murmured as she shouldered her small pack once again. "There are people at that station. Who knows, some of them might be one of us. For now, we follow Kyubey's instructions."

The rest of them nodded in unison as the train slid to a butter smooth stop at the station moments later, and through the glazed windows they could see the silhouettes of the many strangers waiting on the other side. It reminded Homura that they were heading, effectively, into the great unknown.

"I was never very good at stealth," Kyouko murmured quietly as the doors hissed open, and the morning's first commute rushed forward to engulf them.

It was after they left the station when they had to fully place their trust in Kyubey. The place where the train had stopped to let them off was sitting in the middle of nowhere; nothing but a few sparse clusters of buildings huddled together in the wastelands, like tentative sparks of life that were too cowardly to grow. Still, Homura supposed that it made sense to take stealth precautions before the train took them deeper into the city. They may intrude on someone's territory if they did.

[_Through here,_] Kyubey told them, veering to the side and leading them towards the nearest tight mash of buildings. It looked like an abandoned warehouse, ancient windows broken in and twisted nearly beyond recognition. The four of them looking at each other dubiously but followed the alien wordlessly; Kyubey wasn't one to fake confidence if he did not have it.

"Do you think this...'guide' will be friendly?" Kyouko asked Homura quietly as they walked, their feet crunching on the poorly laid gravel beneath them. In the distance, the looming spires of Kazamino detailed the skyline.

Homura turned her head slightly to acknowledge the horizon. "We can never know for sure," She said honestly. "But she will be driven by necessity, as we are. My guess is that she is not part of any gangs of faction and is thus forced to work alone. It would be very difficult to hold a territory by oneself, especially when everyone else is constantly vying to take it from you...but there are more ways to obtain Grief Seeds than fighting for them."

[_You would be correct in that assumption,_] Kyubey told them as they continued walking. The buildings were growing thicker around them now, as if they were entering a true chrome jungle. [_Mishki belongs to no faction or group in Kazamino. To be completely honest, I don't know why she doesn't seek membership with anyone else; she is certainly resourceful enough to fend for herself, after all._]

"What is Mishki's ability?" Mami asked the alien as they began weaving through a series of alleys.

[_No one knows,_] Kyubey replied. [_I didn't contract her, so there is no way to find out without requesting access to classified files. But that will not affect our transaction. We will pay her and she will guide us, under certain circumstances._]

Their surroundings felt more like an actual city's now; tall, rigidly uniform structures crowded around them, and the walkways were tight and winding. During the entire walk, Saki remained relatively quiet; Kyubey had tasked her with masking their magical signature as they moved, in case they were discovered before their reached Mishki, which kept her from being very talkative.

[_Take a right here,_] Kyubey instructed them. He nodded. [_There - the building with the white walls. That is our destination._]

Mami approached the aforementioned building cautiously; it was a small, squat structure, obviously abandoned. The entire _city_ felt completely empty, actually. It was unnerving to realize. Reaching out with one hand, the blonde tried the handle. The door swung open on corroded hinges.

The four of them filed into the building, which was illuminated only by the sun bleeding through the cracked windows. It was the beginning of nightfall, and even this far from Mitakihara the winter cold was biting. Homura's breath frosted before her like a veil as they stood in the center of the room, casting about for their guide.

"No one here," Kyouko growled as she drew her coat more tightly around her. "Your mediator is late, Kyubey."

"How very rude of you," Scoffed an unfamiliar voice in the corner. "I am _always_ early."

Whirling around, the redhead was shocked to see a small, diminutive girl sitting in a folding chair with her legs crossed indignantly, effectively hidden by the arcing shadows that hugged the corners of the room. In fact, the girl had placed herself so well that Kyouko couldn't make anything out except for a pair of piercing green eyes; wild like a cat's, trusting of no one.

[_Mishki,_] Kyubey greeted readily, turning in a half circle to face her. [_It's been a while._]

"Hmph," The small girl grunted from her shrouded corner, the faint outline of her silhouette shaking as she spoke. "Not long enough, if you ask me. You're always bad news, Kyubey. No matter what your intentions are."

[_She's smart,_] Homura muttered to Kyouko.

[_Oh, please._]

"While I appreciate the compliment, I would prefer that all conversations be verbal," Mishki said bluntly, drilling the two of them down with those two emeralds sitting in her skull. Homura managed not to react considerably, but she felt something cold in the pit of her stomach. Since when could anyone detect mental telepathy?

Mami stared in confusion at the two girls standing behind her, having been unaware of their mental transmission. "Yes, of course," She said anyways, out of courtesy. "Let us try to keep this as professional as possible, shall we?" She suggested, crossing her own arms. "Kyubey told us that if we compensated you thoroughly, you could get us into the city."

Mishiki stared up at the blonde for a moment, and Mami gulped after just a few seconds under that fathomless glare. Then the guide sighed and rose out of her chair, stepping forward into the light. "What is it that you need this time, Kyubey?" She asked the alien. "You never want something petty from me."

She was small, alright. Homura considered herself to be somewhat short compared to other girls, but even still Mishki barely came up to her shoulder. Yet, there was nothing to belittle about this girl. There was something dangerous about her; something unforgiving, something that _knew_. It was obvious that Mishki was not to be underestimated. A long mane of pitch black hair sprouted from the girl's head and was tied back into a high, messy ponytail, the remainder sweeping forward over the her eyes, barely restraining the high power of her irises. When she spoke Homura saw fangs lining the movements of the tongue, but they excited her in a different way than Kyouko's. It was a bad difference.

"We need entrance into the city," Saki said in ways of explanation. "Something big is coming, and we need to be ready."

Mishki ignored her and instead continued to focus on Kyubey. "You know I don't run any jobs that could get me killed too easily," She warned. "I hope you haven't come with too heavy a request like you did last time."

The alien lashed his tail and got straight to the point. [_The Sakura Church. The five of us need safe access. Can you get us there?_]

The mediator stared at the creature for a moment before throwing back her head and laughing. She had a faded red scarf tied around her neck and mouth that had muffled her speech, but it came loose as she tiled her neck back further. "You've got to be kidding me, Kyubey. Even you know that's way too steep a demand."

[_I am willing to pay an equally steep price,_] Kyubey said levelly. [_We just need to get there. The faction that controls the territory, we can deal with ourselves._]

Mishki stopped laughing. "I doubt it," She said quietly, as the sun continued to recede from them. "The Acolytes aren't a bunch of pushovers, you know. They kicked everyone's ass and took over the entire religious district."

[_I am aware of the strength of our enemies,_] The alien replied, sounding slightly more impatient by now. [_But we have no other choice. The consequences will be much more dire if we don't reach the Church._]

The guide snorted. "You couldn't pay me fifteen Seeds to take all five of you to that hill," She said as if the very thought were ridiculous. "It _is_ on a hill by the way, did I mention that? Meaning those bastards can see anyone who's coming for them, from any angle. How do you suggest that I sneak the whole lot of you up on them? These aren't ordinary girls...I've heard the stories. They've got blood on their hands. They don't give a shit about civilian safety or staying hidden if it gets in the way of what they want."

"I thought Kazamino had a feudal system composed of weaker magical girls?" Homura pointed out, speaking for the first time since the confrontation had started. "This is just an honest assessment, but the four of us are all rather powerful...would it be so unreasonable to hope that we can take this group in a fight?"

Mishki paused for answering, taking in the shield user's physical features. Her eyes were so searching and hungry that Homura actual shifted nervously.

"You're a pretty one," The guide murmured as if it were a regrettable fact. "But to answer your question, I'm not sure. I've heard about the exploits of the Lone Angel and her friends..." Mishki's eyes lingered on the rest of them for a moment. "But there's a reason why the Acolytes were able to take over an area that had been under constant control for over a year. They had a clear advantage over anyone else in a fight."

"That being?" Homura asked, leaving her curiosity to bear.

Mishki looked at her uneasily, as if considering how much to tell her. "The previous group in charge started hoarding Seeds," She said at last, pulling her faded scarf back over her nose. "They were strong as hell and just as ruthless, and over time they gathered up a massive supply...I'm talking enough to last anyone for years, enough to pay me to run a thousand jobs, enough...for anything."

[_Any prospective gangs would be very interested in such a bounty,_] Kyubey realized.

"Yes," Mishki said, wrinkling her nose at a memory as she flicked her bangs out of her eyes. "But they would have had to get to the stash first, and that was no easy task because the original group practically lived on top of it; the entire collection was hidden somewhere inside the church, the center of the territory, and they were using it as their living space. And I don't know about you, but charging up a big hill towards a bunch of girls who have the power of a thousand Grief Seeds backing them up isn't exactly easy."

"Then how did the Acolytes defeat them?" Mami asked, narrowing her eyes.

"They found the stash," Mishki said simply, shrugging her shoulders dismissively. "That much power will open all the doors in the world, but once someone else gets their hands on it all the doors close except for the one that leads out...long story short, the Acolytes took control of the stash and slaughtered the original owners from the inside. Everyone else beyond the borders of the territory thought this new gang would be easy meat after fighting the first group, so a bunch of them decided to storm the hill."

"I'm assuming it didn't go very well," Kyouko said bluntly. Homura noticed that her hands were shaking. She grabbed the redhead's wrist reassuringly.

Mishki noticed the movement but said nothing. "Yes," She agreed. "Twenty girls dead in that night alone, and nine more later, because apparently stupidity does not disperse with the simple passage of time...of course, the message eventually settled in, and people stopped trying to take the Church from the Acolytes. It has stood uncontested ever since, and no one without a death wish so much as touches the damn place if they can help it." She shook her head. "I don't really care for most of the girls in Kazamino, but there was too much blood spilled over a single hoard of Grief Seeds...the Church is like a cursed place to the city now. Even the civvies don't go near it; they can sense the wrongness in the air too."

[_None of that matters yet,_] Kyubey interjected as Kyouko gulped hard. Homura felt the redhead's hand go cold. [_We are not asking you to help us fight the Acolytes, Mishki. We are simply asking that you get us to the edge of their territory safely. We can pool our resources to figure out a solution then, but for now what matters is getting there._]

Mishki glared suspiciously at the alien. "Why are you so hell bent on getting there, anyway?" She asked, shoving her hands into her pockets and standing over him. "You never do anything without planning every last detail out first...just what is going on?"

[_That information is unnecessary for this transaction. We have brought twenty Grief Seeds with us as a method of compensation._]

The guide visibly balked at that, taking a moment to glance at the bulging sack that Mami was holding. She licked her lips once before regaining her composure. "You drive a hard bargain," She murmured, pushing bangs aside again. "But I still don't know about this, Kyubey. The risk is too great. The Church is at the very heart of the city-"

"Please," Saki suddenly begged the girl, pushing her way to the front of the group. "We _need_ your help. A Radix is going to be here soon, and we-"

"What did you say?" Mishki interrupted her, eyes narrowing.

The illusionist stopped short, caught off guard by such a profound reaction. "There was a Radix in Mitakihara," She repeated. "The next strongest wish location is here, at the Sakura Church...we need to get there and prepare to fight it."

"A _Radix..._" Mishki reached for her mouth and big her thumb in thought. "A wish location at the Church...that can only mean..." Her eyes went wide as her wandering eyes rested on Kyouko. Her thumb dropped back to her side.

"My god, you're that pastor's kid, aren't you?"

All eyes turned to the redhead, she stared solemnly back at the diminutive girl.

"Yeah," She said simply. "I am."

"I remember going to the man's sermons with my parents," Mishki murmured, her eyes glazing over at the memory. It suddenly occurred to Homura that the girl may be much older than she appeared. "To learn that all those wonderful words were a lie...it was a painful truth."

Homura expected Kyouko to completely fly off the handle at that, but the redhead only smiled almost regretfully. "Makes you sick, doesn't it?" She asked, staring at the ground shyly, as if...she were ashamed.

But Mishki shook her head. "Why would it? He made people happy," She said. "Sometimes a lie is the best thing you can give a person..." Kyouko looked up and stared at her in wonder.

Finally, the guide closed her eyes and sighed. "Alright. I'll do it," She suddenly agreed, stepping towards Saki and holding out her hand for the sack of Grief Seeds. "We'll probably get sniped before we get halfway there, but it never hurts to try."

[_Why the sudden change of heart?_] Kyubey asked the small girl, tail waving enticingly.

The guide lifted her head and met Kyouko's eyes. "Call it a thank you, of sorts," She said softly, shouldering the sack and turning away from them. "Pastor Sakura might've been a bloody liar, but he wasn't doing it hurt anybody. In fact...I would kind of like to believe some of the things he told us, if I could." She paused, then began walking away from them.

"Sometimes bullshit sermons can save lives too."

[_Let's go,_] Kyubey told them as he began following Mishki out the back door. [_The sun is setting quickly, and the gangs will be more active after nightfall. We must hurry._] Mami and Saki nodded in agreement and hurried after the alien. Homura began to tail them when she noticed that Kyouko was lagging.

"What's wrong?" She asked the redhead, turning around and twining their fingers together.

"I..." Kyouko didn't seem to have the words immediately, as she stared languidly at where their hands were joined.

"I'd thought that everything about my wish was a mistake."

* * *

><p>"Kazamino has changed since you've been gone," Mishki said over her shoulder, as the six of them walked slowly down the winding passageway stretching out before them. "Things aren't the same anymore. The stability's not here anymore."<p>

They were deep within a snaking underground passage; Mishiki had quickly unveiled the hidden entrance that lay just outside the borders of the city, ushering them in quickly before shutting the doors behind them. They had been plunged into a palpable darkness almost immediately, but a soft white glow soon emanated from the guide's palm, bathing the ancient stone walls in its gentle illumination. The diminutive girl had quickly taken the lead, taking them deep within the earth's belly.

"How long has it been?" The guide mused aloud, her voice echoing ominously off the faces of the cavern. The sound waves collided with their ears like gentle blows. "A year, perhaps? Anyways, things really fell apart here after a while...people found out this territory was uncontested, so of course they all came at once, and then it became _very_ contested."

"How many girls have a stake in this city, anyway?" Kyouko asked her, walking closely behind the small girl with her hands in her pockets.

The tunnel took a sharp turn ahead of them, and they obliged. "I'd say around a hundred," Mishki replied after a moment's thought. "But most of them are so weak that they tend to stay in the shadows, so it seems like less. Even some of the stronger ones are confined to support roles, so there are only a handful who are actually capable of dealing serious damage. And none of them could go toe to toe with any of us."

"I doubt they would choose to fight us that way," Homura pointed out from her position in the middle of the the line, behind Kyouko. "They will gang up on us for advantage in numbers."

The guide nodded. "That's how most of them fight. Most of them wouldn't be able to survive alone, but they're still so splintered that it's difficult for any one group to exert dominance over the city. And thus the feudal system of Kazamino developed."

"And these...Acolytes?" Saki inquired from behind Homura, walking with her hands clasped behind her back. Kyouko briefly noticed that Mami was holding the illusionist's hand. "The way you described them, they seemed pretty powerful..."

"Mph," Mishki grunted, her shoulder dipping just a fraction. The light's glow bobbed up and down for a moment before stabilizing itself. "Also right. Nobody knows why they've chosen to stay cooped up in just the Church for this long, but nobody can resist the greed for territory...there are rumors that the group will make a move to expand soon, but they're always saying that. It's a mystery, really. With that many Seeds at their disposal, they could keep fighting for days on end."

"Couldn't everyone just band together and storm the building?" Kyouko wondered, a deep frown cutting into her face. "Sure, they've got all those Seeds and everything, but I don't think they could keep the door closed on a hundred magical girls."

"Too much disunity among the factions," The guide dismissed easily, shaking her head. "They'd all end up slaughtering each other before they reached the hill. The girls here are different, Sakura-san. The puella magi are renowned for their capability for savagery, but even a veteran like you might be surprised. The things these girls will do to survive..." She shook her head again. "It's more primal than anything I've ever seen."

Saki sighed. "And of all the possible obstacles, it had to be that the strongest gang in Kazamino is sitting on top of the Church. And with a lifetime supply of Grief Seeds, no less."

[_We will have the element of surprise_,] Kyubey assured them from Mami's shoulder. [_If we can reach the Church completely undetected, we may be able to catch them unawares. Everything will depend on Mishki getting us there safely._]

"Then this is probably a good time for me to tell you this," The diminutive girl suddenly interrupted. Everyone turned to face her. "I have no combat ability. While I'd rather keep the nature of my magic secret, you should know that I won't be taking down any demons in my lifetime. Plus, I'm a nomad at heart, so you can probably guess what will happen if someone happens to find us."

"We'll be on our own," Homura deduced bluntly, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I cannot guarantee your safety or mine," Mishki shrugged. "And I'm sorry, but my life takes priority to me over yours. If something happens, don't expect me to stick around."

"Understood," Kyouko sighed, sounding surprisingly acceptant of the matter. "Let's just get this over with."

The guide stopped in her tracks, reaching above her head to probe the stone ceiling with her fingertips. "Then we will start now," She said. "We have made it within the limits of the city. This tunnel ends soon after here, but there are more further in. We will have to make the transition over the surface."

They all nodded their consent, and Mishki pushed a hidden cover aside, revealing a gray sky far above them.

It was still early morning when they poked their heads out of the false stone slab covering the concrete floor, but the buildings surrounding them felt disturbingly empty. Mishki peeked over the edge first and scoped out the area and surrounding street before climbing out and waving for the rest of them to follow. They obeyed, and Mami turned to slide the false slab back into place. It was almost impossible to pick out once it was returned to its original spot.

"Where is everybody?" Saki asked, casting about at the abandoned streets. A thick, low fog hugged the asphalt and wreathed around their ankles, giving the entire street a ghost town feel. Homura checked the time; it was still very early, but the utter lack of people was disturbing indeed.

"This is the kind of affect having a hundred girls in one city can bring," Mishki said simply, gesturing out at the broken and forsaken structures huddling around them. "This place used to be a busy market intersection. Then the feuds started, and it became one of the most contested territories in the city instead. People never really found out what was going on, but they saw enough to get scared. The unexplained the fires, the strange suicides, the odd rumbles and shocks in the night...folks started moving out, and soon enough it was a ghost town."

Kyouko stared numbly at the building across the street from her. It was tall and arcing, and pockmarked all over by shattered windows and cracked walls. The rest of the avenue was in no better shape. She turned her head both ways and took it all in.

"Are there...other places, like this?" The redhead finally asked, staring hard at the ruins presented to her.

Mishki eyed her carefully. "Yes," She said, probably honestly. "Kazamino is as big as Mitakihara, after all. But not as many as you might think. All of this happened early; the factions have generally learned to factor out collateral damage over time."

Kyouko nodded in acceptance, but she didn't look satisfied.

They followed the street for a hundred yards before Mishki opened the next tunnel entrance, and the five of them followed her into the darkness once more.

Before the roof closed above them, Homura heard Kyouko whisper.

"This is because I left, isn't it?"

* * *

><p>The walk through the second tunnel was taken mostly in silence. They had no more questions to ask Mishiki, and the guide wasn't a very talkative person by nature anyways. Saki and Mami murmured things to each other on occasion, but other than that the trip was made without comment.<p>

There was a portion of the walk where Homura felt that it had become endless; the limestone walls around them were unchanging and constant; occasionally they would change into solid bricked stone, only to meld back into the more rugged form. Homura knew that they were essentially walking halfway across the city on foot, but that didn't make the effort any less strenuous. Her feet hurt, and Mishki's light glared off the walls in way that made her head throb just slightly. But she pushed away the temptation to use magic to ease her aches, knowing that even the smallest use of her power could attract an enemy. Mishki had warned them that many of the faction girls specialized in magical signature detection.

The guide raised a small fist, and the group ground to a halt behind her. The diminutive girl stared hard at the rock above their heads, scanning it carefully as she brushed her fingers across the stone surface again. It made Homura wonder what she could be looking for.

Mishki seemed to finish her work and turned to face them.

"There will be people out and about this time," She said, pointing at the surface level above. "We will emerge into a secluded alley, but still, take care not to be seen. This is the most dangerous part of the trip; we're in the heart of a faction's territory right now. They don't know about this tunnel, but the five of you do not have neutrality rights like I do. If they so much as spot you, we're done for."

The small girl turned to push the false slab open.

"Remember, no magic," She reminded them before opening the gate.

The first thing Homura heard was the dull din of city life; it was groggy and slow, but definitely there. She crawled out of the hole after Mishki and quickly darted to the side of the alleyway, concealing herself within the shadows that wreathed there. The others quickly followed suit, hiding where the early morning sun did not strike.

[_Alright,_] Mishki told them via telepathy, leaning forwards to scan the walls of people shuffling by the opening of the alley. [_Here's how we'll do this; we leave in intervals. Everyone puts at least five seconds between each other, but make sure you don't put yourself out of range. It'll look too suspicious if five girls walk around together._]

[_What about Kyubey?_] Kyouko asked, pointing at the alien. Even in the darkness his white coat stood out like a sore thumb. [_Even if they don't see us, wont they recognize him?_]

Mishki frowned at the alien. [_Can you make your own way?_]

Kyubey nodded. [_Just make sure I can track your signature. I'll stay close._] Mishki nodded, and the white creature melted into the shadows.

[_Let's do this,_] Saki prompted, and Mishki left first, slipping smoothly into the crowd with a fluidity that surprised even Homura. This girl was definitely good at her job.

The four of them looked at each other, and Kyouko shrugged before following Mishki's steps a moment later. She reached up and pulled her hood over her face before joining the stream of passerby. Homura was glad for it; the girl's crimson red hair tended to distinguish her.

[_Go ahead of me,_] Saki told Mami. [_I'll watch your back._] The blonde smiled gratefully, and waited a few seconds before slipping into the crowd.

[_Alright, here I go,_] The illusionist muttered, looking back at Homura. [_Watch our backs._] The time traveler nodded, and the older girl melted into the people.

Homura counted precisely to five before joining her.

It was easier than expected to keep pace with the others once she was on the sidewalk. She simply kept constant track of their signatures and made sure that the strength of the wavelengths didn't diminish, and she could just barely see the top of Saki's head regardless. The beginnings of the morning rush hour were upon them; the crowds grew thick and tumultuous as they forged on after Mishki, and Homura slipped between the throng as inconspicuously as possible.

[_I recognize these buildings,_] Kyouko murmured to her on a private channel. [_Things have really changed in just a short time, but I remember growing up here._]

Homura took a moment to observe the structures towering around them. Market stalls, soaring skyscrapers, curls of smoke to signify industry. It wasn't unlike walking through Mitakihara; rather, it was strikingly similar, but there was a different sense of culture here that distinguished Kazamino from the rest. Or maybe not culture. It was more of an...aura, actually. Something in the air that she could profoundly feel. A sense of foreboding that had absolutely no basis.

[_Magical residue, in case you were wondering,_] Mishki said to her, projecting her mental voice from far ahead of Homura's position. [_You probably never notice it in Mitakihara, but magical usage leaves a trace. Not unlike a wish location, actually. It's everywhere here. In the air, in the clouds. It is rather bad for one's health._]

[_Are there actual physical or psychological repercussions?_] Homura asked her, raising her eyebrows in skepticism even though she knew the guide couldn't see her.

Mishki did the mental equivalent of a shrug. [_It's hard to say. But the civvies seem a little more depressed as time goes on. It's not like despair is something only we feel, after all. It is an innately human experience._]

Kyouko had by now dropped out of contributing to the conversation, but Homura was almost certain she felt a glimmer of resentment and anger from the abnormally quiet redhead.

[_How far to the Church?_] Mami asked hesitantly.

[_See for yourself,_] Mishki replied, nudging their minds in a particular direction. Homura turned her head and was surprised to see the very tip of a cathedral's spire rising above the roofs huddled around them; the Sakura Church really was on top of a hill, the ancient structure looking down upon them like a sentinel of the sky. Everybody walked before it.

But no one entered, apparently.

[_What does the city do with the Church since its abandonment?_] Homura asked, staring at the building in the distance nervously. She fell behind a few steps and hurried to keep pace. [_Are they aware that it has residents?_]

[_I doubt it,_] The guide replied. [_No one wants to go near the damn thing. This is rather evident already, but Kazamino's got a lot of deeply religious people, and they tell everyone that the place is cursed. It is true that bad things happen to anyone who snoops around, though. The Acolytes definitely don't like being disturbed._]

They walked the next quarter mile or so in silence. As they moved, the Church's spire dipped below the metropolitan skyline only to just barely peek out again. Although the building was in sight at last, it soon became apparent that they had a very long way to go; a public directional guide Homura passed told her that the Church was still miles and miles away.

[_I hate this,_] Kyouko growled to her suddenly, breaking the shield user out of her reverie. [_The people, the atmosphere. Everyone's on edge, like they're waiting for a building to fall on top of them or something. Everybody here is scared shitless. Scared of what they can't understand._]

[_We can't expect them to adapt to the effects of so much magic,_] Homura replied reasonably. She didn't know what was going through the redhead's mind at the moment, but she didn't want to provoke her either.

[_It's because I left,_] Kyouko surmised, a mixture of regret and disgust tainting her tone. [_I had this place locked down before all this, you know. Kazamino was a special place. I knew all the ins and outs, and even when I was being selfish to gain more Seeds there were hardly any real casualties. It was home._]

[_Is it not home anymore?_] Homura asked, keeping her eyes fixated forward, on the gentle outline of the redhead's hood. [_Is it different?_]

[_It changed the moment I decided to leave,_] Kyouko replied bluntly. [_Now there are dozens of girls crawling through every alley, and they're ruining everything I built up here. They're kicking back in the_ Church,_ for Christ's sake. One of the them could be sleeping in my bed for all I know. I don't know. Maybe I'm just being sappy. But even after everything that happened...I have some attachment to this place, you know? And thinking that it's all fallen apart so quickly...it leaves a shitty taste in my mouth._]

Unsure of how she was supposed to deal with a depressed Kyouko, Homura could only send a wave of good intention towards her. [_If things go as planned, we can at least ensure that you're the only one sleeping in your bed._]

[_I wouldn't mind sharing it with you, though._]

[_What-_]

Her protests were abruptly cut off when she felt Mishki's magical signature veer severely to the side, and it quickly became obvious that the guide had suddenly darted into a small side alley. Before Homura could reach out and ask what was wrong, the girl beat her to it.

[_Pay attention,_] She growled to the rest of them. [_The crowd is thinning out, and fast. This isn't natural._]

Homura looked around her to find that Mishki was indeed right; the amount of people surrounding her was beginning to lessen considerably, and when she looked ahed of them she saw hardly anyone else advancing down the sidewalk. It was like the river of people were trickling away into nothing, disturbingly quickly.

[_Magic?_] Mami asked, the panic evident in her voice.

[_Seems like it,_] Saki mused. [_I can feel a small shift in the air, now that you mention in. We may have been spotted._]

[_Are they going to attack us?_] The blonde asked them all wildly, the lack of composure painfully obvious in her voice. It was then that Homura remembered Mami's previous aversion to taking on her battle form again. That was going to be a problem if they really did get into a fight.

[_Now, let's not assume the worst,_] Kyouko reminded the rest of them. As she spoke, Homura saw the redhead peel off from the road and join Mishki in the alley, motioning discreetly for Mami to follow. [_They might know we're here, but they might not have found us yet._]

[_I doubt they know exact location. They wouldn't be trying to thin out the crowd otherwise,_] Mishki agreed. [_But do hurry. I don't like seeing dead people._]

An air of tension enveloped them as Mami, Saki, and Homura tried to increase their walking pace without seeming too conspicuous. Around Homura, the amount of people petered out constantly until she was almost walking by herself down the length of the road, with only the occasional passerby. Ahead, she saw Mami reach the alley safely.

[_I don't like this,_] Saki said nervously. Homura could see her clearly now, walking several yards ahead with her shoulders tensed. [_We're sitting ducks out here...if they really are watching us right now, I really hope they don't have any long range attacks..._]

[_Just keep walking,_] Homura replied tersely, though she had to admit she was also on edge. It was the natural response when she knew next to nothing about the enemy.

Saki obliged, and soon the illusionist darted to the side and hid in the shadows of the alley, leaving Homura alone on the sidewalk.

[_I've got an awfully bad feeling about this,_] Homura transmitted to the other four as she tried to walk as casually as possible towards the opening of the alley, which sat about a hundred yards away.

[_You're almost there,_] Kyouko assured her, but the tension was evident in her tone too.

[_I can definitely feel another magical presence now,_] Mishki warned her. [_It's faint, meaning there is some distance between us, but that means I can't place its exact direction. We don't know where they could be coming from, but they _are_ here._]

[_Do you know anything about the faction that controls this part of the city?_] Saki asked.

[_They're a unique bunch. A group of five, three with combat ability. The fourth and fifth are specialists in detecting magic._ _The first two fight traditionally, with handheld weapons...the third is an odd case, however._]

[_That being?_]

Homura felt her shoulders relaxing just slightly when she reached the alleyway at last and turned on her heel to enter it.

[_She's a long-range sniper,_] Mishki answered, just before the magically charged bullet that had been whistling through the air punctured Homura's side.

She couldn't help it. She screamed. Most magical girls developed an innate resistance to intense pain, but this...this was different. It wasn't natural. The bullet, a spherical ball of energy laced with mysterious runs, smashed into her ribcage and sent her crumpling to the floor immediately, the ground rushing up to meet her so fast that it knocked the wind out of her when she struck it. For a moment, there was nothing but the world spinning around her and the impossible, impossible pain galloping through her leg, and the last visage of her cry echoing down the alleyway.

[_HOMURA!_] Kyouko roared, but Mishki yanked her back when she tried to run out into the street. "Fucking let go of me!" Homura heard the redhead swear, but the diminutive girl demonstrated a surprising strength by restraining her anyway.

[_Sit still!_] She hissed angrily at the redhead. [_If you go out there she won't miss this time. You'll get one between your damn eyes!_]

[_We aren't just leaving her there!_] Kyouko snarled back, but she at least demonstrated enough self control to switch back to telepathy. Homura, head throbbing too much to keep track of the conversation, simply moaned softly and closed her eyes, pressing her cheek into the asphalt. She did her best not to move, fearing that any sudden movements might provoke another shot. She cracked her eyes open just a fraction; there was a multitude of massive buildings in the distance, but she had no idea which one the sniper might be in. When magic was involved, anything was possible.

[_Clear your mind and think!_] Mishki snapped back. [_Why do you think they haven't shot her a second time yet?_]

There was a moment of silence as everyone processed her statement.

[_They're trying to bait the rest of us out,_] Saki realized grimly. Mishki nodded.

[_They probably know we're nearby,_] The guide hissed. [_If we go out there to help her, we'll be playing right into their hand. The other four in the faction are probably out searching while the sniper keeps us pinned down._]

Homura tried her best to keep up with the conversation at hand, but the pain crashing through her chest and sides was making it exceedingly difficult. She had never felt agony of this magnitude before. A deep red haze hung over everything, a distortion atop an already confused world. Her breathing was becoming erratic, and when she lifted one badly shaking hand to her face it was stained bright red. There was a large pool of that same bright red gathering at the edge of her vision, but she resisted the urge to look down.

[_Why isn't her magic healing her?_] Saki asked in dismay, and Homura checked her internal reserves to find that the illusionist was right. It was like her powers were being blocked.

[_Magically charged bullet,_] Mishki growled. [_Probably designed to disrupt any magical interference in the body. It will keep her from healing as long as it stays inside her._]

[_I'm going out there,_] Kyouko said with finality, digging out her Soul Gem.

Mishki seized her wrist. [_No! If you transform here, every single girl in a mile wide radius is going to know our position. You'll get us killed!_]

[_Are you telling me to do fucking nothing?!_] Kyouko yelled back, throwing the girl's hand off her.

Homura coughed. It wasn't voluntary, but the anomaly forced itself out of her throat. A small sprinkle of blood followed soon after. She was bleeding out. Survival instincts kicking in slowly, she flopped over onto her back and stared up at the sky. It looked passively back.

Gritted her bloodstained teeth, she opened a small storage portal by her side, making sure her body prevented it from being seen by the sniper. Focusing her energies, she weakly grabbed Kyouko's attention.

[_Smokescreen,_] She told them groggily, waving the small canister explosive she had in her hand at them discreetly. [_Distraction...Kyouko, you shield me and...they'll think it's mine..._]

[_Of course,_] Mishki realized. [_If you shield her behind the smoke, they'll assume it is Homura's magic._]

The time traveler mentally nodded, albeit weakly. [_Count...three._]

She flipped the switch on the smoke grenade, squeezing her eyes tight.

The small grenade in her hand flew into the air and began spraying its contents in a wide circle almost immediately, and a split second later a massive plume of smoke blossomed outwards and engulfed the entire street. Another moment later, Homura heard the sniper take a panic shot at where her body was supposed to be. But the bullet shattered harmlessly against the crimson shield that had already flickered to life in front of her.

[_Go, go, go!_] Kyouko urged Saki, as the redhead focused on keeping the shield up. The illusionist darted into the street, fighting through the thick coils of smoke until she found Homura's body, slumped onto the sizzling asphalt. Scooping the limp girl off the road and trying not to slip on the excess of blood staining it, Saki turned and fled into the alley.

Homura turned and coughed violently when Saki set her down against the wall, a this time a particularly thick glob of spit mixed with blood sprayed against the wall. Tears were streaming down her face, half from the pain and half from the chemicals the smoke bomb had thrown in her eyes. Fighting her morbid curiosity, she looked down at herself.

She saw only a mess of red and coiling black, and looked away.

"Out of my way," Mishki snapped at Kyouko when the redhead rushed forward to assist her. Kneeling before the time traveler, she closed her eyes and pressed her hands against the girl's open wound.

Homura gasped and made a guttural, unintelligible sound, spasming briefly in place. Kyouko growled and started to advance, but Mishki was already done. When she stepped aside, a fresh layer of new skin was stretched over the bullet hole.

"I can't remove the bullet myself," She said. "The faction in control of the next territory over might be able to help you, but we'll have to get there first. Can you walk?"

She wasn't losing blood anymore, but the excrutiating pain was still there. Eyes still watering, Homura shook her head slowly.

"Here, let me," Saki volunteered, kneeling down and placing her fingers against Homura's temples. A small pulse of magic alighted between them, and suddenly the pain faded down to a dull throb.

"Just an illusion, of course," The blonde smiled. "I've suppressed your body's interpretation of pain for now, but it is only temporary."

"What are we going to do now?" Mami demanded, eyes darting nervously out the alley. The smoke was starting to clear. "We can't walk all the way there like this. And Homura can't fly us there in her condition..."

"We might have to fight out way there," Kyouko said, baring her teeth as Saki helped Homura to her feet.

"For now, we go on foot," Mishki decided for all of them. "If we can get away from here now, we may lose them before they triangulate us. We must move quickly."

The five of them took off jogging down the alley, Homura doing her best to keep up. It was a strange feeling to run when she knew her intestines were probably wrecked; there was a definite feeling of injury, but it didn't hinder her. Her magic, however, was shot; she didn't feel as connected to her abilities as she should have, the flow of magic blocked by the charged bullet sitting in her gut.

[_The border of this territory is half an hour away on foot,_] Mishki transmitted back to them. [_There are no more tunnels leading there, but if we are lucky-_]

A bolt of pure white lightning struck the ground in front of her, sending the guide skittering to a sliding halt.

Homura's heart sank when she looked up.

"Fancy seeing you here, Mishki," Said the tall, lanky girl standing on the rooftop high above them. "I thought even you wouldn't be brazen enough to intrude here."

"They paid me well," The diminutive girl replied indifferently, but Homura saw the tension in her shoulders.

"Hmph," The electric girl scoffed, her pure white hair shifting slightly in the wind. "I never really cared for those stupid 'neutrality rights,' anyway...I suppose this is a good chance to prove my point."

Raising one hand, she sent another arc of lightning at the five of them.

A solid red shield enveloped them a moment later, and the bolt of energy smashed against the barrier and dispersed, sending a cloud of fizzling power streaming outwards.

"Idiot!" Mishki screamed when Kyouko ran by her in full battle gear. "I said no magic!"

"Shut your fucking trap!" Kyouko roared, throwing up another shield to parry the second blast that was blindly fired their way. "I'm saving our asses!"

"Go, run!" Saki urged them, and they all took off running through the smokescreen the lightning had provided them, holding their hands over their heads. They had just turned the next corner when a plume of pure fire engulfed the alley before them, stopping everyone in their tracks.

"Sorry," The black haired girl standing on the roof above them said, "But I don't like it when dinner gets away before it's cooked properly."

"Shit," Kyouko muttered to herself, hefting her spear and backing up slowly. Mishki and Mami took cover behind her, and suddenly Homura found herself with the responsibility of guarding the rear. Fighting through the nausea, she activated her magic and took on her battle form, holding her spear and bow before her person. As she did, the first girl had already caught up with them.

"What should we do with them, Karen?" The electric girl asked, leering down at the five girls. "We told them no one was welcome."

"I say we teach them a lesson, Tsukihi," The girl with the flames licking her arms replied, licking her chops almost eagerly.

[_Mami,_] Kyouko told the blonde quietly. [_I need you to transform, now. We need back up._]

[_N-No! I can't do it!_]

"We'll teach you what happens when someone tries to cross us!" Karen screeched, her flames gaining in intensity.

[_Mami._]

[_I can't!_]

Kyouko swore as yet another lattice shield surrounded them, just in time to block the engulfing stream of flames that had been sent their way. The fires licked their way around the barrier and blocked everything else out of sight, surrounding them with a blinding visage of red and white.

"Get 'em, Homura!" The redhead yelled as the flames began to disperse, spurring the girl into action. Waiting until the shield had faded away, she palmed three grenades and hurled them at the rooftop where Karen had been standing.

The bombs swallowed the entire rooftop up in flames, but it was only then that Homura noticed her target wasn't there anymore.

"Surprise," Karen sang as she appeared behind Homura, holding a flaming katana in her hand. Whirling around in shock, the time traveler barely ducked in time as the scorching blade went for her neck, singing the tips of her hair in passing. Shifting her weight and leaping backwards, Homura raised her shield and activated a time-stop, feeling the world still around her.

She landed on her toes and pulled out a submachine gun, expecting her opponent to be frozen in time.

So she was understandably shocked when another column of flame rushed past her ear again.

Lunging backwards, Homura hit the floor and opened fire in the cramped space of the alleyway, filling the walls with sprays of bullets. But Karen just laughed and intensified her flame, melting the metal projectiles on contact. The shield user bared her teeth and emptied the entire clip into the flaming girl, even though she knew it was a waste of bullets. She just needed time to process what was going on. How was this girl still moving? They had nothing physically connecting them-

_The bullet._

Swearing and dodging another blast of heat, Homura released the time stop and backed up until Kyouko was pressed against her. It would have made sense for the sniper to be able to move, as they were bound together by the bullet in her side, but there was only one way that these other two were able to negate her magic as well.

[_They're grief sharing!_] Homura shouted behind her as she continued taking pot shots at Karen. [_My time magic is useless here!_]

Kyouko cursed as she parried five successive bolts of lightning aside with her spear. The little arcs of energy fizzled violently against the walls and in the corners. Tsukihi simply laughed manically and continued to throw bolt after bolt down upon them, raining electric destruction across the entire alleyway as Homura desperately tried to hold her ground against Karen's flames.

"We're getting the hell out of here!" Kyouko yelled, abandoning the fight and sprinting towards the wall. Rearing back, she used her spear to smash a four foot wide hole in the wall and dart through. Mami and Saki scrambled after her quickly, and the shield soon dissipated from existence. Homura backed up slowly towards the hole as she parried the last few sets of blows, then turned tail and fled into the building.

When she did, she realized they had broken into a small parking garage. Kyouko was sitting in the driver's seat of a large pickup truck with the control panel busted open, working furiously with the wires.

"Please tell me you still remember how to hotwire a car," Homura said gruffly as she jumped into the backseat.

"As a matter of fact, I do," Kyouko replied as the engine roared to life. "We're getting out of here!" She said, pulling the clutch and hitting the gas. The vehicle's engine roared in protest before the entire machine shot forward, screeching out into the street and away from the building, which was consumed in flames and still sparking from electricity.

"Since when do you know how to drive!" Saki yelled from the passenger seat, her head striking the roof with a painful _thunk_ as Kyouko made a rather reckless turn and hit a fire extinguisher by mistake.

"I don't."

"What!"

"They're following us!" Mami shouted, pointing out the back window.

"Where's Mishki?" Kyouko yelled back, yanking the wheel sideways once again. The truck took an abrupt turn and threw everyone on board to the right, and outside the street whizzed by faster than light.

"She abandoned us as soon as Karen showed up," Homura replied darkly as she pulled off the safety on a heavier machine gun this time. "Open the sunroof." Kyouko obliged, and Homura stood up in the backseat so that her head was poking out of the top of the car. The wind was whistling rapidly past her ear, taking control of her hair and whipping it around haphazardly as she hefted her weapon and rested it agains the edge of the sunroof. In the distance, she could see the two girls leaping across the rooftops after them, easily keeping pace with the truck; they wouldn't be outrunning those two anytime soon.

Turning, she knocked on the roof and yelled, "Take a right!" The truck veered to the side, narrowly avoiding a fireball that crashed into the street before smoldering angrily into nothing.

"Jesus!" Kyouko roared when little bits of flaming debris clattered against the window. "Get those two off us! I can't drive like this!"

_On it,_ Homura thought to herself as she aimed down sights and fixed her gaze on the closer of the two girls, the fire user Karen. Using the reticle to track the girl's movement, she squeezed down on the trigger. A violent rattle of bullets shook the gun in her hands, and she saw Karen's speed decrease considerably as she kept them pinned down with suppressive fire.

"Homura, watch out!" Mami told her, and a moment later a bolt of lightning struck the road an inch from the side of the car. The truck skidded sideways on its wheels, throwing Homura painfully against the side of the sunroof's opening and making her lose her grip on the gun. Swearing loudly, she pulled out another variant of the same weapon and didn't bother aiming this time, opening fire on the two girls in pursuit with wild abandon. They countered with their own blasts of fire and lightning, and it was a chaotic back and forth as the truck wove its way erratically through the streets of Kazamino, trying desperately to put distance between them.

"I'm running out of bullets here!" Homura shouted as she squeezed off shots in short bursts, trying her honest best to drive a few bullets into either one of them. Most of her shots were being melted before they got anywhere close, though.

The truck took another hard right, and yet another poorly aimed fireball sailed over their heads. Homura winced in pain as her stomach clenched but didn't stop firing, knowing that she was the only one keeping the two girls from catching up.

Two seconds later, another bolt of lighting arced towards them and actually made contact this time, striking the side of the vehicle and sending everything veering to the left. Homura lost her aim and had to keep her head down to avoid the debris, and that gave Karen enough time to leap from a rooftop onto the hood of the car.

Homura's eyes went wide as she tried to bring her weapon to bear, but Karen kicked the thing out of her hands before she could. The girl licked her lips and raising a flaming hand.

"Sorry it had to end like this," She said before bringing her hand down.

Homura thought she saw something approaching them from the edge of her vision, and a moment later the truck exploded.

The street spun dizzyingly around her as something struck the vehicle and sent everything flying, the ground rushing up to meet her as she crashed painfully into the asphalt with her hands held over her head. A rain of flaming debris pattered down around her moments later, the sounds of crunching metal and rubber filling the morning air.

Cracking one bloodied eye open, she groaned and tried to activate a storage portal but found that she couldn't. Feeling the beginnings of panic, she made a second attempt but failed once more. An incredibly exhaustion was overcoming her.

Another groan to her right, and she saw Karen gingerly picking herself up from the ground, staring at her hands in confusion.

"I can't...my flames..._where are my flames?_"

[_Kyouko..._] Homura cast out, praying for a response.

[_Homura,_] The reply came soon after. [_Magic...fucking shot. Can't summon anything..._]

[_Saki...Saki..._]

[_Here,_] The illusionist responded weakly, and Homura flopped over to her side to see her.

What she actually saw my something in her chest throb.

Chocolate brown hair, matted and dirty from the wreckage. Wide, black eyes, an oval face. A different nose, and different brow. Everything changed, but all still recognizable, because Homura knew this person.

It just didn't make sense that she was seeing her right now.

The pain in her gut decided to return then, and it came in such great waves that she felt herself losing her grip on consciousness. Someone was calling out to her in the distance, but she couldn't grasp it.

The last thing she wondered before blacking out what why Kiku Hanezawa had been staring back at her.

* * *

><p><strong>And so the big reveal has been made.<strong>

**I write 13,000 word chapters cause I'm cool like that.**

**No, just kidding, but I haven't updated in 3 weeks so I figured I should write longer than I usually do...**

**As always, thanks for reading!**

**~Banshee**


	17. Revelations

Chapter 17: Revelations

She knew that her eyes were probably going to open again, but that didn't make it any less jarring.

The first thing she saw, of course, was a ceiling. She was getting rather used to this. Yet another unfamiliar room, yet another unfamiliar situation, the universe telling her that she was never really prepared for anything. One could only hope and pray. At least her god tended to actually answer prayers.

Her head hurt. That was a little new. She remembered the bullet that had been sitting in her gut and felt at herself under the thick blankets shrouding her, and was somewhat relieved to find nothing there. Just clean, giving skin. The person who had done that for her...well, that was usually a mystery. She wasn't very surprised by that either.

Tilting her head to the side, she saw Kyouko dozing off in a folding chair by the bed. Her eyes lingered adoringly over the redhead's peaceful features for a moment before moving on to the rest of the room, taking in the gray, tattered walls, the cracked ceiling, and the glassless windows. A cool wind was drifting in through the openings and ruffling the rough curtains hung above the sills, and the absence of a sun told her that it was probably early evening.

Looking back up at the ceiling and closing her eyes, she briefly thought back to what had happened before her loss of consciousness.

Images of fire and suffering.

She opened her eyes. Time for that later. She needed to get her bearings first.

Reaching away from the bed and tugging gently at Kyouko's sleeve, Homura quietly murmured her name.

The redhead's eyes flew open immediately, and she instinctively grasped the time traveler's wrist.

"Homura - oh, good. You're awake," She said, the relief evident in her voice.

The shield user smiled meekly. "I thought I was supposed to be good at what I do."

Kyouko rolled her eyes and brought the girl's hand up to her face, pressing her lips languidly against the cool skin she found there. "Idiot," She mumbled. "Are you_ trying_ to die on me?"

Homura laughed softly. "It isn't voluntary, I promise."

"That's even worse, stupid."

She continued to smile as she let her head sink back into the blocky pillow cradling her neck. She probably should have been feeling more bleak, but it was somehow difficult to do that when Kyouko was with her. Taking in the battered state of the room around them, she asked, "Where are we?"

"Abandoned apartment complex," Kyouko answered, leaving the folding chair so she could sit on the bed by Homura's side. "Buzzer territory."

She blinked. "Buzzer?"

"That's what this faction calls themselves," Kyouko shrugged. "Trust me, I think it's lame too. But they took the time to help us out, so I can't really bag on them."

Homura closed her eyes and processed the information with little trouble. She had given up on being flustered a while ago. "Then I'm assuming we managed to reach the border of the territory?"

"Yeah. They were the ones who hit the truck with that...magic canceling bomb, or whatever it was," Kyouko said. "Not the most subtle way to do something, but I'm not complaining...anyways, they fought off those two crazy broads and brought us here."

Homura brushed her thumb along Kyouko's knuckles, sending a small shiver through the redhead's frame. "I don't see why a random faction would want to help us," She said honestly.

"We've got Mishki to thank for that," Kyouko replied. "Gotta give her credit. Figured she'd left us in the dust back there, but she was actually busy getting the Buzzers to come save us. She's hiding out in this building, too."

"How are the others?"

"Mami's doing okay," The redhead responded, her face changing slightly. She wasn't transformed when the truck got hit so she took a few cuts and scrapes, but she'll live."

"...And Saki?"

Kyouko frowned deeply. "That's...a slightly harder question."

Homura understood. Judging from how the redhead was reacting, the rest of them had seen what she had seen. The face that had been impossible to see ever again. The face of a dead girl. Such a massive plethora of questions opened up by that one sight alone, but something kept Homura from asking more questions about it. She knew that it would come in time.

"Come on," Kyouko said suddenly, springing up from the bed and holding her hand out. "You should be fully recovered by now. You should introduce yourself to the ones who saved us."

She stared up at the girl for a moment before smiling and taking her hand. Kyouko subsequently surprised her by yanking the shield user towards her and pulling them both in for a deep kiss.

They stayed like that for a while, Homura's hands hanging awkwardly in the air for a moment before settling down to loop around Kyouko's neck. It wasn't hungry, nor was it pure. It was simply an expression of emotion, a way of translating something that neither of them could put into words.

They broke apart when they encountered the problem of breathing, and Kyouko rested her forehead against Homura's.

"And just so you know," The redhead said, "Next time you come close to dying on me I am going to personally kick your ass."

Homura smirked. "Isn't that hypocritical?"

"Oh, shut up."

"Sorry."

* * *

><p>Mami looked up when she heard the door creaking open and raised her eyebrows when she saw Kyouko walking through with Homura in tow. She was so fixated on them that she didn't notice it was her turn to move.<p>

"Are you going to place your cards or what?" The gruffly spoken girl sitting across from her asked impatiently, startling the blonde into action.

"Oh! Um...here," She said, recovering quickly and playing her hand.

"Give her a break, Kryptek," An older looking girl said from the table beside them, sighing in exasperation as she continued her own game against the fourth girl in the room, a small girl with a patch over her left eye.

"The world doesn't wait for people who take too long to act, Seiyaku," The aggressive girl retorted, whipping out her own card and slamming it down on top of Mami's. The blonde winced slightly.

The older girl rolled her eyes. "Looks like her friends are awake," She pointed out, raising her eyes to stare across the room. The other three turned in their chairs to observe the newcomers.

"Hey there," Kyouko greeted them, leading Homura into the room and letting the door close itself. "She just woke up."

The girl with the eyepatch whistled from her seat, leaning back on the chair's two back legs. "Mishki was right. She _is_ a pretty one," She snickered, grinning wickedly in Homura's direction. Unsure of how she was supposed to react to that, she opted to simply frown back.

"Sorry Iroha, but she's accounted for," Kyouko replied jokingly, but there was an underlying edge to her voice.

"Boo," Iroha pouted, her patch twitching as she looked away.

Homura observed the two of them. She wondered at the purpose of Iroha's patch; it obviously suggested some sort of wound to the surrounding area, but taking into account the healing capabilities of magic, it was unlikely that the patch was temporary. Something to do with her wish, perhaps. The girl slouching in her seat beside Iroha wasn't very distinguishable in comparison, unless her delinquent-esque air was to be taking into consideration. Long black hair draped down over her shoulders, far from neat and mostly unkempt, and she had a constantly irritated jut to her jaw..

Meanwhile, Seiyaku left her seat and approached the time traveler. Homura eyed her warily as she came closer; experience had taught her to never trust someone she didn't know well. But the older girl simply extended a hand, pairing it with an assuring smile.

"Name's Seiyaku," She greeted, nodding affirmatively when Homura tentatively accepted the handshake. "Leader of this faction, otherwise referred to as Buzzer One. I've always wanted to meet you, but I never imagined it would be like this."

Homura eyed the girl carefully. She had pale, slightly blue tinted hair, a color that reminded her vaguely of the moon on a sunny day, the wild strands cut short to ear length, brief and spiky. It was a boy's hair, really, but Homura would later think that it suited her. She was tall, even taller than Saki, and had a pair of fierce cobalt eyes to match. She moved with a sort of confidence not found in ordinary people.

"Akemi Homura," She said at last, reciprocating the handshake. "You saved my life. Thank you."

Kryptek grunted something that was half humorous and half disgusted from the tables. The cards were strewn all over the place by now, and Mami looked confused as to whether the game was continuing or not. "Don't thank us, missy. I'd do anything to shove another one up those sisters' asses."

Seiyaku sighed. "That's Kryptek," She said somewhat unnecessarily, as the blunt girl waved at them from her seat. The small one's Iroha."

"Don't call me small!"

"I'll keep calling you small until you learn to shoot that damn gun properly," Seiyaku snapped back, and for the first time Homura noticed the large weapon sitting under the table by the diminutive girl's feet. It was definitely magical in nature; a certain aura surrounded it, and its design was ancient and incomprehensible.

"Wait, so _you're_ the one who shot the truck?" Kyouko asked incredulously, crossing her arms over her chest.

Iroha _hmphed_ and looked away again. "I'm...still working on my aim."

"You've been saying that for the past year," Seiyaku snorted. "Anyways, they're Buzzers Two and Three. We've got two more in our group, but they're not here right now."

"Where are they?" Homura asked curiously, looking around the room.

"In the next hall, watching Saki," Kyouko told her, as the room took on a colder tone.

"Oh," Was all Homura could say, as her eyes instinctively fell to Mami's face. The blonde had gone pale and she was staring down at her lap, the cards fanned out in her hand shaking ever so slightly.

Seiyaku quickly observed the change in atmosphere and processed it. "I separated your friend from the rest of us per Sakura-san's request," She murmured lowly to Homura, who tilted her head to hear better. "Mishki assures me that the four of you are to be trusted, and I am inclined to trust her judgement...but Tomoe-san seems rather shaken by something, and it obviously has to do with Saki. I don't mean to intrude on any personal matters, but...what is going on?"

"I'm not entirely sure myself," Homura replied earnestly, shaking her head as she reached up to massage her temples. Her headache wasn't going away. "Let's just say we recently discovered something that she was trying very hard to keep hidden from us."

"Ah," Seiyaku said, leaning back and looking less than enlightened. "Well, then, I will lead you to her now." Homura nodded, and they crossed the room towards a second door.

"Will you be accompanying us, Tomoe-san?" The blue-eyed Buzzer asked of the blonde, pausing with her hand on the knob. Buzzers Two and Three turned to look at her.

"I..." Mami was still staring at her cards, as if she were looking for another way to play them, another way to run out the visage of time. "No, I will be staying behind...I would like a rematch against Kryptek, here..."

Seiyaku nodded graciously and opened the door, ushering Homura and Kyouko inside. Kyouko paused for a moment before reluctantly passing through the threshold.

"If I may ask, Akemi-san," The tall girl said once the door closed behind them, "What is the reason for your presence in Kazamino? I can't imagine you're here simply for your own enjoyment, given our present situation..."

Homura couldn't answer immediately, her mind still somewhat stuck on Mami's further ruined psychology. A long, poorly lit hall stretched out before them, flanked on both side by concrete walls. It really was an abandoned complex. The whole place looked ready to fall apart at the seams.

She remembered Seiyaku's question and wondered how honest she was going to be about answering it. Then she realized that it was probably to her advantage to be forward. "A Radix is coming here from Mitakihara," She said. "It will be here soon. We're here to take it down."

"Hmm," Seiyaku murmured, the low notes carrying and echoing down the hall as they walked. Small lightbulbs illuminated their path at regular intervals. "A Radix...I have heard of them before, but never encountered one. It must be a powerful enemy if it was able to oust you from your home."

Kyouko laughed humorlessly. "You know, everyone says we should be able to kick anyone's ass, but I haven't felt that way at all lately."

Buzzer One pursed her lips. "Yes, in theory, most of the puella magi in Kazamino wouldn't be able to lift a finger against either of you. Even I would be faced with poor odds to try. I don't know how, but the Sisters have gotten irrationally powerful in a short amount of time. Tsukihi could barely power a generator when I first met her."

"Could it be Grief Seeds?" Homura asked, narrowing her eyes as she tried to make something out in the receding darkness.

"Possibly," Seiyaku agreed. "It is how the Acolytes rose to power, after all. I wouldn't rule it out, but there's no way to know as things stand."

"Wait, this is confusing me," Kyouko cut in from the far back. "I thought Seeds were just for purifying corruption, not granting additional powers. How would having more of them make anyone more powerful?"

"It is true that purification is the Seeds' main purpose, but they serve other functions as well," Seiyaku replied, her heels clicking solidly against the asphalt. "Every magical girl has blockers installed inside themselves to keep them from expending too much power and literally fizzling into nothing, as you know. But with a large amount of Seeds, the amount of accumulated despair is no longer an obstacle. Therefore a puella magi could use them to push her limits further."

"So the Acolytes, the Sisters...all of them are using Seeds to access their latent potential?" Homura asked.

"Seems like it," Buzzer One replied. "No other way someone gets that strong that fast, after all. Most girls' magic doesn't advance at all. The more despair you can build up without dying, the more power you can wield. It is a simple yet terrifying technique."

Kyouko _hmphed._ "Well, maybe those two will get so pumped on steroids and end up beating the crap out of each other."

"That would be convenient," Seiyaku agreed. "Some of us think the Sisters might be in league with the Acolytes, but there is no evidence to suggest this besides their similar gains in power. There are also rumors that the Acolytes are planning to seize more territory soon, but what can we do? Fighting against them would simply be a death wish."

Her voice trailed off then, because they had reached the end of the hall.

"Mishki and the twins are keeping Saki in check at the moment," She said, taking the knob quietly. "She didn't resist us or anything, but looked less than calm. Do exercise caution."

Homura nodded, and Seiyaku pushed the door open.

* * *

><p>The room sitting on the other side was exactly the same as the one the hall connected them to, a small, gray space with peeling walls and glassless windows. A myriad of objects, broken debris and shards of wood, were strewn across the floor like the passing flecks of a roaring flame, just a shadow.<p>

The room was the same, certainly, but being in it felt different.

The first thing Homura saw was Mishki's shadow outlined in the corner. The diminutive girl was sitting on a table that had been shoved into the dusty recesses of the room, legs crossed as she rested a disgruntled chin on her steepled fingers. The girl's green, raven-like eyes were the only things that pierced through the darkness with clarity.

The second thing Homura saw was two little girls running around the table sitting in the center of the room, chattering something undistinguishable to each other and to the fourth occupant of the room. Further analysis revealed that the two children looked exactly alike. Twins. The observation tickled her curiosity, but not enough to distract herself from the subject at hand.

That being, a certain brunette.

[_Iroha's missiles contain a magic that cancels all kinds of powers within the blast radius,_] Seiyaku's voice echoed inside Homura's head, and a quick glance sideways told her that Kyouko was hearing it too. [_It can be blocked if you expect it, but you were caught off guard. I'm assuming she was using some sort of illusionary magic to hide her true face; it is certainly within her expertise, though obviously I cannot imagine why she would need to do that._]

Homura closed her eyes as she heard the door boom shut behind her. [_I see...you have my sincere thanks, Seiyaku-san._]

[_Hey, not every girl in Kazamino is out of their minds. Just showing an example._]

The sound of the door slamming shut startled Saki - no, _Kiku_ - out of her apparent reverie, the girl's matted strands of hair flouncing just slightly as her head shot up. Her body language remained calm when she saw the three of them approaching her, but the sparkle in her eyes betrayed her heightened excitement. She looked ready to say something, but one of the twins tugged at her sleeve and asked something in a high pitched voice, serving to distract her.

"Welcome back," Mishki called out to them from her corner, earning a small nod from Homura. "Sorry for ditching you guys back there. I figured bringing backup would be more productive than dying at your side."

"I'm surprised you didn't just run away," Kyouko replied bluntly, though she obviously meant no malice by it.

Mishki chuckled humorlessly. "I did promise that, didn't I? Well, this job isn't like the rest. Exceptions had to be made..."

There weren't any lights illuminating the ragged apartment room, but the cool light of the evening was enough to allow Homura to see. She realized the hall had had lightbulbs because it was windowless. Turning her head as Seiyaku walked off muttering something about getting more chairs, she stared out at the sloping rooftops staggering out before her. The Sisters were out there somewhere, and beyond them, the Acolytes, and the Radix even further beyond that. So many obstacles to topple.

But first, the one sitting in front of her.

"I will allow you all some privacy," Seiyaku announced as she set down some more folding chairs and turned to head for the door. "We can talk later."

"Thank you."

Buzzer One nodded graciously before pulling the door open, gesturing for the twins to follow. The identical children groaned something about not wanting to leave before hopping off the tables and obliging, filing past Seiyaku and into the hall. The short haired girl looked at Mishki, expecting the guide to follow suit, but she simply shook her head. Seiyaku shrugged and closed the door behind her.

Homura took the seat directly in front of Kiku, and Kyouko pulled up a chair beside her. The brunette eyed them uneasily, as if expecting either of them to strike at any moment, and Homura supposed it was reasonable for her to feel that way. But that didn't mean she wasn't going to ask all the questions she wanted.

"I don't know the children," She said, her voice echoing off the walls of the chamber and making Kiku visibly flinch. "Who are they?"

There was nothing but a table and some air between them, but it felt like a thousand miles. "Buzzers, like the rest of them," The brunette responded, her hands clasped before her. "I asked their names, and they told me they were called 'Four' and 'Five.'"

Homura's eyes widened slightly, briefly distracted by the revelation. "So they are puella magi?" She asked, thinking back to the mere children she had just seen. "But so young..."

"Incubators went on a frenzy trying to replace Kyouko a while back," Mishki voiced from the corner. "Even the aliens can make poor judgements. Seiyaku and the others don't let them do any fighting, though."

"Mmm," Kyouko hummed, and the four of them fell into silence. Homura briefly noticed that the redhead's eyes were smoldering.

She wondered where Kyubey was at the moment.

"Well, out with it," Kiku snapped at them, suddenly and irritably. Homura blinked. "I'm assuming you have questions, right? You wouldn't be here otherwise."

The shield user sighed. "On the contrary, Hanezawa-san, there are many possible reasons for us to be here...but you are right, we do have questions. I don't imagine you need much help figuring out what they are."

The illusionist looked back at her, a sick look in her eyes, the look of someone who was backed into a corner and was deathly afraid of tight spaces. Then, in a movement so minute they almost missed it, she shook her head.

Homura cleared her throat as Mishki looked on curiously. "Then, please tell us everything, Hanezawa-san.

"Tell us from the very beginning..."

* * *

><p>After the blast, she was nothing.<p>

It was a genius strategy, really. Truly genius. To take advantage of someone who was injured and distraught, and show her the very stuff of nightmares...then take the reins on those nightmares to usher in a contract, one formed while stuck in the throes of emotion, leaving no space for careful deliberation, no chances to think it over at all.

That was what Kyubey had so easily done to her, and it had taken nearly all her resolve not to slaughter the beast when they met face to face again.

But she wasn't supposed to meet him again. No, because she was supposed to be dead. And as she floated among the emerald ether, the image of a winged goddess beginning to appear before her eyes, Kiku never once doubted that she had sealed her fate. For in that one moment, it seemed that she understood everything. Her wish was fulfilled, after all. She had protected Mami. It was the protocol she had laid down her life for. What was left for her to possibly accomplish?

As she closed her eyes and let the green lighted wings overtake her, she bid farewell to the illumination.

But then it returned, and in full force.

She was speechless at first. Eyes opening to find herself sprawled out in the dens of an abandoned alley, and elderly woman repeatedly smacking her cheeks and asking if she was alright. Spasming and shooting up into a sitting position, she found herself still in her hospital gown, and the positioning of the moon above her head was different. A run by the nearest newspaper stand, which managed to draw her more than her fair share of odd looks, told her that it had been a week since her apparent death.

Once the initial confusion had abated, the theorization could begin. The first thing she did, of course, was try and return home; it was the natural response. But something stopped her from knocking joyously on the front door and declaring her return. How was she supposed to explain her presence to her parents? To them, she had died in a mysterious explosion over a week ago, with evidence of foul play, not a trace at all really, nothing to speculate on. So she had let go of the knob, the bolt rattling back in place after coming within a millimeter of sliding open, and snuck around the back instead.

A peak in the nearest window offered her a truly surreal sight; it was her mother, the one who had never seemed to care, crying quietly to herself under the solitary light in the kitchen. A half-burned cigarette in one hand, a wad of tissues in the other. She saw a stack of misshapen boxes sitting in the corner. Consolation gifts, presumably.

It was then that it really struck her that she was dead. Or to the world she was, anyway. She was a ghost, brought back through methods beyond the horizons of human comprehension. Revealing herself to anyone would be an indirect self-vindication in itself. Not to her parents, who acknowledged her life only when it was gone, not to anyone she knew at school, not to any of the people who had even seen her, touched her, knew her scent, anything at all. She had become but a shadow, a walking husk of something people didn't prefer over the real thing.

But she had been fine with death, hadn't she? She had made her wish knowing what fate probably awaited her. But it took her some time to finally realize that she had only been fine with it because she expected to be gone for good. There was a certain comfort in knowing oblivion awaited you. But when that assurance was taken away, to be replaced by a waking dream, a life that was half over, being dead had instead become her worst nightmare.

She was supposed to be dead. But she wasn't, but in technicality she was, and it was all so awfully confusing...

So, she took to concealing herself. It was difficult, always having to find new places to hide herself where no one would ever recognize, her aside from the occasional comment that she looked like someone who had been in the papers, where her life had never managed to reach. There were times, of course, when she considered simply casting aside the facade. The idea of returning to the life that had been taken away by her poorly worded wish was so tantalizing that it hurt. But the thought quickly banished itself from her mind when she turned a corner and accidentally ran into an old classmate. The girl screamed something about seeing a ghost and was halfway across the block before Kiku could say a word.

She had cried for a full two days after that.

Who was she, anymore? Not Kiku Hanezawa. That girl was still laying in the wreckage of Mitakihara General, a smoldering corpse ground to dust somewhere beneath the punishing rubble. Not Kiku Hanezawa. Then who? There was no immediate answer to that question. She had become a half person, a soul desperately clinging onto an identity that had become invalidated. She avoided saying her own name whenever possible, and if she had to she made something up on the spot. The number of identities, the names, aliases and excuses for her secrecy piled up endlessly, until the concept of identity became a mere commodity to her, something to be cast aside and restored at will. Kanade. Honoka. Umi. Yuno. Kurika. Toshino. Sakazura. Koyomi. Eru, Chihaya...

Names were nothing.

There was a time where she lay under yet another unfamiliar roof beneath the stars, watching the wonderless constellations spinning by above her. The girl laying ten feet to her right had been telling her something when her voice suddenly cut off, leaving a ringing undertone in the air.

"I'm sorry, what was your name, again?" She asked, and Kiku responded with absolute silence.

It was the most appropriate response she could have mustered.

She didn't touch her powers at all at first. To her they were the very thing that had got her caught up in this conundrum to begin with. She didn't want anything to do with them. Kiku understood the basic fundamentals of grief accumulation simply through natural instinct as a puella magi, and she knew that if she didn't expend any energy she would be generally fine. She was content to live out the rest of her life without any further affiliation with magic.

Unfortunately, the universe was seemingly not content with allowing her to play that role. She was making a run to the store one day when she turned a corner and sensed Kyubey's presence at the edge of her consciousness. It had been weeks since their last meeting, and seeing the image of the alien's brilliant fur coat in her mind's eye sent her into a state of panic. Kyubey was approaching, and fast. She had to hide herself, but how could she hope to conceal herself from the magical detection of an alien through mundane means?

The answer, then, was to use means which were not so mundane. It was only circumstance that forced her to break her personal abstinence from magic. She had next to no experience with her own abilities and so wielding her powers took multiple tries, but eventually she managed to huddle in a corner with an illusionary bubble placed around her. She sat in that same spot until she felt Kyubey's presence fade into nothing. It was a relief to know she was safe for the moment, but it was also a reminder that the world she had thrust herself into was not going to let her go so easily.

She started practicing with her skills more often afterwards. Her magic was not the kind that manifested despair too quickly, so she could spend considerable time working out the kinks. Still, it was only a week before she started accumulating worrying levels of corruption in her Soul Gem. It was at that time that she faced yet another crisis. Finding the keys to her own magic had been enough to occupy her mind for a while, but what lay beyond it? She had no plans for the future, not for the coming years, or months, or even weeks. She was living life by the day with no light at the end of the tunnel, because it wasn't a tunnel she was running through but a desert, one with an endless sky and no clouds.

Who was she? What drove her? Those were the questions she had so forcefully squashed until then, but now they rose to the forefront of her mind. Her previous life was gone, and she was stuck between that and the next one. What distinguished her from others? What _defined_ her?

The only logical conclusion, then, had to do with her wish.

Mami Tomoe.

She didn't know why she had so cruelly been allowed to live. She didn't know how it was even possible. But she was seized then by the unshakable faith that it had something to do with her best friend. Something had kept her from the hospital until then, but Mami would understand, wouldn't she? The blonde was the only person left in this world who would believe anything she said. And suddenly, just like that, Mami became a light, a door that led to a return to what she had lost.

So imagine her disappointment, when she concealed herself and peeked into the window of Mami's hospital room, and saw what was to be seen there. Yet another broken husk just like her, destroyed by her sacrifice. Mami was a wreck. The distraught girl Homura and Kyouko would meet later was nothing compared to the borderline insanity Kiku witnessed that night. The idea that the very person Mami had been sacrificing herself for, the one she had been trying to protect all this time, had been the one to protect her, in the end...the concept nearly broke her mind.

Any thoughts she might have had about revealing herself to Mami then were moot. She couldn't face the blonde anymore, not with her face at least, because to do so meant facing the greatest shame she had even known. A wish she had made out of apparent selflessness had destroyed her best friend. She really had had no idea what she was doing after all, and in her ignorance she had ruined everything.

But she couldn't stay away. Call it her wish, call it intuition, call it love. But Kiku could not stay away. So how to achieve this? Suddenly all her practice with making up aliases came in handy. She never knew much about Mami's background, but it was reasonable to assume that she still had family laying around somewhere. She would become family, then. A face. She needed a face. Platinum blonde hair, an angular face, the polar opposite of herself. A name...

Saki.

With the facade complete, all that remained was figuring out what to do with it. And Saki knew what to do with it. The purpose of a puella magi's existence was to defeat witches, after all.

It was purely by chance that she met the nomadic girl who happened to be passing through the city. They had brushed into each other on the street and she had sensed the girl's powers, though the nomad failed to detect hers due to her magic. Saki stopped her and begged for a crash course in demon hunting. The nomad, though initially reluctant, chose to take pity and agreed to be her brief tutor.

And it was then that Saki learned about Radixes.

"I'm only passing through, but I've already heard from other wanderers about the damn thing," The nomad had complained to her, waving a flippant hand about. "They said it started showing up around the time the local hospital blew up, you heard about what happened there? Must've been a powerful wish location that grew that thing out of the dirt..."

It all made sense in retrospect. The Radix that had been terrorizing Mitakihara, the one that was at the source of all their troubles; it must have been born from _her_ wish location. It all made sense...so this was all her fault, after all. She should destroy it. She _needed_ to destroy it.

"Do you know where Mitakihara General is?"

She knew exactly where it was, of course, but something had driven her to speak to Sakura Kyouko on that snowy day. A small part of her had wondered if the redhead would recognize her somehow and turn her back, but that didn't happen. How could it? They had never met face to face before.

Just a fleeting hope.

She was only visiting Mami to strengthen herself. She knew that seeing the blonde with a different face would only serve to confuse her. Demons were becoming less and less common in the city, and with every disappearance her hope of finding and vanquishing the Radix dwindled ever further. She needed a reminder of why she was doing this.

It was afterward that she decided to enlist the help of Akemi Homura and Sakura Kyouko. It wasn't an entirely selfless decision to go out and save the two of them from the lake that night. Part of it was driven by her natural sense of justice, but part of her...part of her just wanted to better her own odds.

And so began the lies, the questions, the half-truths. She knew immediately that Homura didn't trust her. She knew that eventually the truth would come out. She knew, she knew...but she did nothing. She befriended Mami knowing that she was lying to the blonde's face with every word their shared, every moment that passed between them. She knew.

But part of her had simply hoped for a better tomorrow.

* * *

><p>"That's fucking bullshit," Kyouko growled, slamming her fist down on the table and making Kiku flinch. "How could you do that to her? You <em>saw <em>what your death did to Mami. How could you possibly have hoped for things to turn out any better than this?"

"I-" Kiku stuttered as her eyes momentarily darted towards the door. "I couldn't face her after everything, I just...couldn't..."

"But you...you _lied_..." Kyouko spat with borderline derision.

Homura remembered then that Kyouko was rather sensitive to lies.

"I'm sorry!" Kiku sobbed, crushing her face behind her own hands. "I'm sorry! I did what I thought was best! I didn't mean for things to turn out this way. I just wanted to take responsibility, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

Homura watched the entire spectacle in silence until then. She didn't know what she was supposed to think, if at all. Did this even concern her? She cared little for Mami, and Saki's big reveal dealt no actual damage to their mission to track down the Radix. But then it occurred to her that this wasn't a matter of practicality. It was a matter of emotion, of trust, of betrayal.

And people asked her why she preferred to keep her emotions in check.

"While your intentions were indeed noble," She said, the shield user's voice ringing out, "You are mistaken."

Kiku looked up from her hands, her eyes streaked with dirty tears.

"Your wish location was not the one that bred the Radix," Homura continued bluntly, leaving no room for error. "It existed long before you and I even met each other. So this whole business with taking responsibility...you can stop that now. Because it really isn't your fault. And it never was. Mami was the one who ultimately drove you to your contract."

Mishki and Kyouko might think that she was doing a kind thing by relieving Kiku of any blame, but the truth was the very opposite. The destruction of the Radix had been the brunette's prime directive until now. It had fueled her this far. But now Homura was taking that away. It was a cruel thing that she was doing, really, and only Kiku knew it.

Kiku was staring in shock at her hands. "No...but I...I thought..."

"Well, you thought wrong," Kyouko snapped, standing up abruptly and throwing her chair back. She turned on her heel and started heading for the door.

[_Where are you going?_] Homura asked through telepathy, not wanting to break her composure.

[_To get some fresh air. I feel fucking sick in here._]

The door closed behind her, and Homura turned back to the illusionist.

"What will you do with me now?" She asked miserably, no longer making eye contact. "Will you leave me behind and go on your own?"

Homura frowned back at her. "Your secrets have no impact on my plans or my intentions of keeping you, Hanezawa-san. I am not personally invested in your relationship with the rest of us...but, one hunter to another, no, one human to another...

"I would genuinely reflect on my actions before attempting any sort of reconciliation."

Then she was gone too, and Mishki was the only one left to watch Kiku break down into tears.

* * *

><p>Seiyaku and the others were waiting for Homura when she shut the door to the hall behind her. She cast about for a sign of Kyouko, but there was none.<p>

"Hey," Buzzer One greeted her from her usual table. "I'm guessing it didn't go very well?"

Not particularly deigned to speak, Homura simply shook her head.

The faction leader sighed and rose from her seat, walking over to the time traveler and placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "I won't act like the five of us haven't our own troubles," She said, gesturing behind her at the rest of the Buzzer clan. "Lord knows we had a massive fight deciding whether or not to take the twins in."

Homura looked past her at the two adolescents sitting rather innocently at their own table. They were chatting amiably with Mami, who seemed a little more at ease with then as compared to playing cards against Kryptek. "How did you find them?"

"Literally right off the street, about a year ago," Seiyaku said, gesturing for Homura to follow as they returned to the tables. The shield user took a seat across from her. To her right, Kryptek and Iroha were talking lowly about something. "They were too young to know anything about territorial boundaries, and they walked right in here like it was nobody's business. Lucky it was us and not the Sisters, because those girls would have torn these two apart in seconds."

One of the twins, whether it was Four or Five she could not tell, leapt off the table and approached her tentatively. Homura supposed she was a stranger to them all. She tried to give the child a reassuring smile, but probably failed. The twin reached out and touched her on the arm in a friendly gesture regardless. Homura touched their fingers together in minute wonder.

"Aren't they too young to be contracted?" She murmured, still somewhat disturbed by their sheer age.

"To be honest, there's no way to tell," Seiyaku answered. "They knew nothing when we found them. No name, no birthday, no family. No home. Kryptek wanted to name them Iggy and Sniggy, so I had to take the reins and settle for calling them Four and Five...I'm guessing they're around ten, though. We celebrate their birthdays on the day we found them."

Homura watched the first twin return to Mami and ask the blonde something in a high pitched voice. Mami smiled amiably and responded with something equally complacent. The girl always was rather good with children. She briefly remembered that the Buzzers didn't let them do any fighting.

"I can imagine why you wouldn't want to care for them," She murmured. "They are a massive liability."

Seiyaku laughed in agreement. "Hell yeah they are. It's alot like raising actual kids, in that way. But it pays off, in its own way. It's hard to explain in practical terms, but it does."

The second twin ran over to the leader at that moment and tugged at her sleeve. "Seiya-chan, we want to go play in the upper rooms!"

"Sure thing," The girl allowed, rising from her seat and taking both twins by the hand. "Why don't you come with us?" She called over her shoulder to Homura. "I'm pretty sure you're friend's somewhere on the second level."

Homura left her seat to follow Seiyaku, but paused to turn and look at Mami, wondering if she planned to follow. The blonde didn't budge an inch, and she turned around and left, wondering why she had even stopped in the first place.

* * *

><p>"If only all the factions in Kazamino were as accommodating as yours, Seiyaku," She said softly when they had ascended the steps, the old wood creaking beneath their footsteps.<p>

"There are others like us, you know," The faction leader replied, letting go of the children's hands and letting them run ahead to wherever their destination was. "Girls who are tired of the fighting, who just want to live in peace. Most of us are only ruthless by circumstance, really. Only a select few are like the Sisters or the Acolytes."

"Is there not a way to bring people like you together?" Homura asked wishfully, watching the twins bang their way down the hall.

"As a matter of fact, we're trying to," Seiyaku said, throwing her a knowing smile. "It isn't anything concrete, but...Mishki is connected, as am I. I've met other groups like ours. Terror was only a temporary way to achieve order in this city. One day, somehow, we'll change things. I don't know when, but I believe it will happen. That's a big part of why I wanted to help you and your friends, actually. Your arrival may be the beginning of something different."

"We're only here to defeat an advancing problem," Homura responded. She saw the room where she had woken up in the distance. "I don't know about solving already existing ones."

Seiyaku nodded. She knew that, of course. "The Buzzers are ready to help you achieve that goal. Having a Radix in this city would be bad news regardless of the factions. In fact, I think it takes priority over achieving any sort of peace in Kazamino...though, if you plan to permanently dislodge the Acolytes from the Church without outright killing them, you might need a little help."

"What do you mean?"

Seiyaku stopped, and Homura looked ahead to see Kyouko in the hospital room she had awoken in. The redhead was leaning moodily out the window, her crimson locks streaming in the wind.

"Later," the Buzzer promised, brushing her arm and walking further down the hall after the twins. "Talk with Sakura-san first. We can discuss things afterwards."

"But-" Homura said, but the girl was already gone.

Frowning in exasperation, she dropped her hand back to her side and turned to look at Kyouko again. The redhead obviously knew she was there from the noise she had just made, but she wasn't turning around. Sighing, Homura entered the room and closed the door behind her.

"Are you here to talk me into being nice to Saki?" Kyouko's voice slipped out from underneath the wind.

Homura crossed the room until she was standing behind her. "No."

The redhead smiled to herself. "Of course you aren't. That's why I like you, Homura. You never try to patronize me."

"I patronize you all the time."

Kyouko rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know. But not when it matters."

"I suppose."

Kyouko exhaled loudly through her nose. She gestured out past the glassless window, at the city stretching out beyond.

"Look at it all, Homura," She said, smiling wryly. "It's my home. And what a goddam dump it's become. I grew up running through these streets. I'd always assumed my homecoming would be a little more pleasant than this, but it's always dangerous to hope for anything better than the worst case scenario, isn't it?"

"None of this is your fault," Homura pointed out, leaning against the window sill next to the redhead. The frigid winds made them instinctively sidle closer together. "You never could have predicted that any of this would happen."

"You're right as usual," Kyouko agreed, making the shield user look up at her. "Which just happens to bring me to my next point."

Homura looked at her curiously.

"Just..._why_ are we doing this?" The redhead blurted out, gesticulating vaguely with her hand. "I know this is my home and all, but...it's all become so _foreign_. It's still a day or two before the Radix gets here. Why are we sticking out own necks out to save a bunch of petty girls who would kill us without a second thought? I mean, Jesus, Homura, you got _sniped._"

Homura winced and instinctively flexed her abdomen. "You know why it has to be us," She reminded her. "Hardly anyone here is strong enough to take the Radix down, and those who are would be too selfish to risk their lives. There is literally no one else who can do this, Kyouko. And besides...this is about what's right and wrong, not about practicality."

Kyouko thought about that for a moment before smiling. "Never thought you'd be the one to tell me to be less practical."

"Things change," The time traveler replied nonchalantly, though she had to admit she was surprised at herself.

Kyouko chuckled drily. "You can say that again," She said, turning and looking deep into the time traveler's violet eyes. She blinked. "I never thought in a million years that I'd be in a relationship with you, of all people."

Homura blushed at their proximity and forced a hand between them. "The feeling is entirely mutual," She said sarcastically, trying to maintain her calm even as her heartrate picked up. "Seiyaku said she wanted to talk to us, we should go..."

"Maybe a little later," Kyouko suggested, turning and backing Homura up against the wall. Before she could react, the redhead had her arms pinned by the wrists. She started to squirm in protest, but Kyouko simply pressed her body against Homura's, trapping her even further.

"Kyouko!" Homura growled angrily. "I said we need to go talk to Seiyaku-"

"I don't want to talk to Seiyaku right now," Kyouko murmured, gliding her nose dizzyingly down the length of Homura's jaw. "Are you really trying to convince me you aren't interested in this at all?"

"I..." Homura steeled her nerves. "I'm really not."

"Mmm," Kyouko hummed, moving her thumb and feeling the shield user's wrist, along with the racing pulse she found there. "I don't believe you."

Homura gulped, realizing her facade had been torn aside.

"Cmon, Homura," Kyouko said almost predatorily, even showing her fangs. "Just a few minutes. They won't miss us at all..."

The redhead's teeth had just begun to prick Homura's sensitive flesh when Mishki's voice echoed through their heads.

[_On the contrary, we will,_] The guide said blandly, making both of their eyes go wide. [_Now get down here before I tell everyone else why you're late._]

"Is that girl a goddam ninja or something?" Kyouko sighed against Homura's neck, making the shield user's pulse jump.

[_Something like it._]

[_Get out of my head!_] Kyouko snapped irritably.

[_Then get out of Homura's pants,_] Mishki snorted back.

"I'm wearing a skirt," Homura pointed out.

"Unnecessary," Kyouko told her.

[_Unnecessary,_] Mishki agreed.

Homura blinked.

* * *

><p><strong>You might have noticed that I added (Part One) to the title of Chapter 1. That's because I'm probably going to write a Part Two (obviously) once this story concerning the Radix is over. It would mostly be about Homura's relationship with Kyouko, and it would be significantly more comedicromantic/fluffy/sexy than the first part. But only if you guys are up for that.**

**Thanks for reading, and do review, it keeps me motivated**

**~Banshee**


	18. Careless

Chapter 18: Careless

"You ready?" Kyouko called over to Homura, the redhead stuffing a few extra items into her pockets.

"Almost," The time traveler murmured back, narrowing her eyes as she perused the weapons lining the shelves that surrounded her. It was a meager store, to be frank, but Seiyaku had mentioned that they had a small store of firearms and Homura had seen no reason to pass up on having more guns.

The meeting had been brief, and to the point. The Buzzers would lead them to the edge of the Sisters' territory, and from there they would part. It wasn't being apart from the faction that bothered her, though. It was Mami and Kiku. Things weren't exactly personal between the brunette and herself, but with the blonde...fighting with either of them at her side was going to get difficult.

She heard a small scuffle to her left, and when she looked through the half-opened door she saw a strand of chocolate brown hair. It seemed that Kiku was standing just inside the next room. Homura was about to call out to her when the brunette said something, not directed towards her.

"Please, Mami...just, hear me out, yeah?"

When Homura closed her eyes and concentrated, it became fairly obvious that Mami was also standing in the next room, though the door blocked her from being seen. Waves of stress and dismay were radiating off the blonde.

Meanwhile, the conversation had petered out, and it occurred to her that Mami hadn't chosen to respond.

"Come on, Mami," Kiku begged a second time. "I know you were listening in on us behind the door...do you really not want to talk this out?"

Homura saw the illusionist reach out for Mami with one hand, but something in how the girl jerked back told her that Mami had flinched away. Kiku retracted her arm like a wounded animal and turned away, so that she faced the door.

"I-I see," Kiku murmured, clutching her hand to her chest. "That's...fine, then. I understand."

She made to leave the room then, and lifted her head to make eye contact with Homura.

The illusionist froze in her tracks as Homura stared impassively back. Kiku's lips parted for a moment, and it seemed like she was about to say something before she closed her mouth instead and stalked away, down the ruined hall to their right.

Homura exhaled through her nostrils and returned to examining a Five-Seven she had selected.

Things were going to be difficult, all right.

* * *

><p>"Let's go," Seiyaku told them as Kryptek securely locked the door to the apartment complex behind them. The sky was filled with the weak gleam of stars above them. "We must take advantage of the darkness."<p>

They had all waited until nightfall before leaving the protection of the building. The Buzzers apparently had many hideouts like this scattered around, some not even within their own territory, for when times got tough. None of that mattered now, though. Today they were moving behind enemy lines.

They began walking, keeping to the shadows so that only the faint gleam of their souls shone through the darkness. Homura eyed the streets uneasily as they moved; they weren't taking the alleyways, and the thought that someone could turn the corner and find a bunch of teenaged girls with torn clothes walking along the pavement was setting her off.

"Don't worry," Seiyaku murmured to her. "People don't really go out at night around here, these days."

"Why not?"

"Mostly cause of us," Iroha admitted from in front of them. She had her gun slung over her shoulder like a bag. "We had to fight long and hard to keep this place for ourselves. The Sisters wanted our territory for themselves, and we were sandwiched against the Acolytes. The aftermath scared ordinary people."

They settled into a sort of natural formation as they walked, with Seiyaku leading them with Buzzers Two and Three at the rear. The twins walked close behind their leader, clinging tightly to the edges of the girl's clothes. Despite their young age, they remained deathly quiet; they seemed to understand the current need for stealth. Though Homura was glad for that, it pained her a little to realize that these children were forced to mature beyond their age. She looked to her side and was somewhat surprised to see Kiku walking in pace with her. Looking over her shoulder, Homura saw Kyouko and Mami walking close together, and the blank looks on their faces told her they were communicating telepathically.

It seemed that Kiku's deception had served to heal the rift between them, to some degree.

Now Homura understood why Kiku was walking alongside her. Neither of the girls following behind them would feel very comfortable with the brunette around.

[_Do you still plan to help us take down the Radix?_] Homura asked blandly, keeping her eyes fixed forward.

There was a moment of silence from the illusionist.

[_Why wouldn't I be?_] She finally asked, blinking once.

[_As I mentioned earlier, you know now that it wasn't your fault. You are no longer obligated to help us._]

[_Do you want me not to help you?_]

Homura closed her eyes. [_Any helping hands are welcome. You know how powerful our foe will be._]

[_Then don't ask pointless questions,_] Kiku sighed back, and the conversation fell apart between them. Homura expected the rest of the walk to pass in complete silence, so she was surprised when the brunette added something else.

[_Besides, I wouldn't just ditch you guys like that._ _Even if you are pissed at me._]

A small smile tugged at the corners of Homura's mouth.

[_I see._]

Raising her head, she looked ahead, towards the sloping crest of the Church that peeked out above the horizon. The Sisters' territory sat between the Buzzers' turf and the Church, so they had no choice but to go through them if they wanted to save time. They had until the depths of nightfall tomorrow before the Radix reached Kazamino. The plan was to reach the church tonight and somehow deal with the Acolytes before the end of the following day.

It wasn't the most foolproof of plans, and that was bothered Homura about it.

A small flicker in the corner of her eye, and Kyubey was walking by her ankle. Some of the Buzzers saw the alien coming and flinched in surprise, but settled down somewhat when they recognized an Incubator. Homura didn't suppose that any of them really knew Kyubey, but the alien race had never really been a direct threat to them in the past.

[_I see you've survived,_] Homura said bluntly as the alien hopped onto her right shoulder.

[_Disappointed?_] Kyubey asked in response, with a surprising tinge of sarcasm.

[_Maybe just a little,_] The shield user sighed. [_Something tells me you already now what took place during your absence._]

[_Of course,_] Kyubey said presumptuously, his tail flouncing. Kiku stared at the creature for a moment before returning to focusing on the road ahead. [_An unexpected revelation concerning Saki, to be sure. The possibility always lingered in the back of my mind, naturally, but there was not enough evidence to stake a claim._ _I'm surprised she managed to stay hidden for so long._]

Homura hummed. [_She said she used her illusionary magic to conceal herself from you...but wouldn't that fall under magic detection? Surely you would have sensed her powers even if she was invisible..._]

Kyubey lashed his tail this time. [_In theory, yes. And in practice as well, now that you mention it. I don't know why Hanezawa-san was able to cloak herself from my detection. It may be a specialization of her magic alone. The powers of a puella magi are a complete and utter mystery, as always. We can only hypothesize, and theorize._]

[_So basically, you have no idea._]

The alien blinked. [_If you must be so blunt._]

Seiyaku turned around ahead of them, prompting Homura to look up. "We'll be reaching the edge of the territory soon," She called back to them, pointing towards a desolate looking highway bridge a few blocks ahead of them. "Get ready to split up."

The shield user nodded as they approached the bridge. It seemed fully operational, but its edges were cracked and chipped, evidence of age. This road had seen many battles. She could see the little clues scattered about the asphalt; bullet holes that looked a little two wide, strange runes burned into the earth like childish drawings, and the general stench of magical overusage.

Seiyaku stopped in the middle of the bridge and waited for the rest of the party to catch up. A dirty stream gurgled sluggishly past underneath her feet, carrying away the tainted air molecule by molecule. Homura noticed that Kiku tried to stand next to Mami, but the blonde slowly sidled away.

"This is where we part," Buzzer One told the girls of Mitakihara, smiling wanly back at them. "I'm sorry, but we'll be taking Mishki with us this time. We'll need her knowledge of the tunnels to move safely."

"Where will you go?" Kiku asked.

The shorted haired girl smiled. "There are other girls like us, who aren't malicious by nature. Girls who want to see peace return to this city. Mishki and I will make a swing through all the territories we can, and try to convince as many factions as possible to join forces with us and flee."

"I see," Homura said, stepping forward. "Any one faction would fall quite quickly to the Radix...you're trying to get them out of the way first."

Seiyaku nodded grimly. "From what you've told me, it looks like the thing's bringing every demon in Mitakihara with it. And according to Mishki's knowledge, the demons here will be drawn towards the Radix and follow its orders. No one group could take on enough enemies to fill two cities. We must consolidate our strength, and strike when the moment is right."

"Let's cast aside this notion of an army for now," Mishki suggested, the diminutive girl walking up behind Seiyaku and grabbing her shoulder. "Most of them may be too scared to fight such a powerful entity. For now, we need to warn as many girls as we can."

Buzzer One nodded in agreement. She began to turn away but started as if she'd remembered something. "Oh, right," She said, digging around in her pockets for something. "Reminds me. Take this with you..."

Homura stared down at her hands as Seiyaku dropped what looked like a round rock into her palms.

"It's a rock," Kyouko noted, rather unnecessarily.

The faction leader laughed. "Well, obviously," She chuckled. "It's imbued with mental magic. A small gift from a friend. We'll be out of communication range soon, so we'll need a way to trade words in case of an emergency. It's just a one time use, though, so I'll try to avoid wasting it if possible."

Homura stared down at the smoothly polished stone sitting in her palm for a moment, before closing her fingers around it and bowing her head deeply.

"I'll pay you back one day, for everything," She said sincerely.

Seiyaku smiled amiably. "Pay me back by kicking some Acolyte ass," She said, tapping her strongly on the shoulder. Then she turned and led the rest of the Buzzers away from the bridge, back into their own territory and towards the unknown frontiers beyond. Mishki tailed them discreetly, waving back at the girls of Mitakihara as they dwindled further into the horizon.

Homura raised her head and turned to face the remaining four, now that Kyubey had joined them. "Now then," She said, clearing her throat. "Let's go-"

Her words were cut short when a streak of deep red dashed across the edge of her vision. Turning, she was surprised to a massive gout of fire screaming across the skyline some distance away, shortly followed by the crackle of lightning. The magical projectiles were a fair distance away from them, so they couldn't be heard, but their brilliance lit up Kazamino's dead night sky regardless.

[_Looks like the Sisters are fighting someone,_] Seiyaku murmured, and Homura turned to see that the Buzzers were also watching the spectacle at the end of the street. [_Could be Acolytes, could be someone else. You should cut through while they're distracted._]

Homura pursed her lips and crouched into a running position, taking the lead point as the rest followed suit. [_Let's go._]

The five of them took off into the night, as comets of fire and lightning intermingled among the heavenly stars.

* * *

><p>[<em>Wait Homura, hold up,<em>] Kyouko called out to her from behind, causing the shield user to stall in her footsteps.

"What is it?" She asked impatiently as the redhead caught up with her, just barely slowing down enough. "We need to get to the Church before the fight is over."

"I know that," Kyouko replied evenly, keeping pace with her. They were avoiding magical output for now. "But think about it. Even if two of the Sisters are fighting way over there, they've got another one who usually sits further out, right?"

It was then that Homura remembered the sniper that had shot her through, and her abdomen twitched impulsively. She winced at the memory. "Ah...right. We'll keep an eye out. If we managed to spot her before she spots us, we'll plot a course around her."

Kiku and Mami nodded their affirmative, but Kyouko only frowned.

[_I still remember what that girl did to you,_] The redhead murmured privately to Homura. [_If we get close enough, I might not be able to hold myself back._]

The shield user frowned grimly as they resumed running.

[_Try your best._]

To their west, the fire and lightning continued to streak across the horizon, and as the dim lighting flickered against the worn facades of the city, Homura thought she saw the silhouettes of three girls tearing at each other in a frenzy. It could be deduced that two of them were Karen and Tsukihi, meaning that the third was some unknown foe. Possibly an Acolyte. Regardless of who it was, Homura shuddered to think that someone was powerful enough to take on both Sisters singlehandedly.

[_We're about a third of the way there,_] Kiku called out to them. Things were moving faster than before now that they had the freedom to run. It normally would have taken much longer with Mishki's method of sneaking around. As they dashed through another bristling clump of skyscrapers, Homura stole another glance at the battlefield that was raging some miles away. The lightning was still going strong, but the gouts of fire that had accompanied it were growing weaker. Whoever the enemy was, they were winning.

They passed some strangers on the streets as they darted in and out of alleys, and they earned more than their fair share of odd looks when the four girls sped past random passerby. No one tried to stop them though, and that was all that mattered to Homura. Some of the strangers muttered something about a storm brewing nearby, and she realized that it was the human interpretation of the battle taking place to their west.

Halfway across the territory now, and they were entering a section of the town that had less massive buildings surrounding them. According to Mishki's knowledge of the terrain, the structures would continue to shrink until they petered out into nothing, eventually giving way to the gargantuan hill that the Sakura Church sat on. From there, they would have to figure things out on their own.

[_Get down!_] Kyouko grunted, grabbing Homura and pulling them both down to the asphalt of the alleyway. Homura instinctively covered her head, trusting the redhead's intuition and assuming there was an immediate danger present. Kiku and Mami threw themselves behind a nearby dumpster a second later, and when the air cleared Homura sensed the magical power concentrating atop the building they had just passed.

A millisecond later, someone on the top floor fired their sniper into the distance, towards the spot where the Sisters were fighting.

Kyouko dragged both of them against the side of the building behind them and craned her neck back, staring high up at the skyscraper arcing above their heads. It wasn't a particularly large structure by Kazamino's standards, but it was still the tallest thing for several blocks, as the other buildings were considerably smaller in the surrounding vicinity. A hawk's nest, an excellent vantage point.

The perfect set up for a sniper.

[_Looks like she hasn't noticed us yet,_] Kiku said as the sniper's magic flared once again, a second bullet screaming across the sky away from them. [_We should get away from here, before she-_]

There was an unduly loud _clang_ as Kyouko smashed the lock on the back door to pieces and flung the titanium door wide open, dashing inside and up the stairs at a breakneck pace.

"_Kyouko!_" Homura whispered harshly, but the girl was already gone, her footsteps echoing loudly off the aluminum staircase as if to taunt her. The shield user swore under her breath and looked back at the other two, who simply stared back at her with bewildered expressions.

_Shit,_ Homura thought to herself, backing away from the wall and preparing to summon her wings in order to reach the top floor. Then she remembered the no magic rule and let her powers quell themselves exhaling slowly.

"Get up. We're doing this the hard way," She told Kiku and Mami, before running through the open door and up the stairs.

"Why in the _world_ would Kyouko do something like this?" Kiku griped as she sprang to her feet and made for the door.

"She always has been rather impulsive," Mami sighed behind her.

* * *

><p>A red haze was clouding Kyouko's vision as she crashed her way up the stairs, the steel railing burning her palms with how fast she was blurring past them. She had promised Homura that she would try to restrain herself, but any idea of self discipline had fled at the realization that the sniper was right <em>there<em>, just at the top of the building with absolutely no awareness of who was rushing up to meet her. She saw only the pain that had contorted Homura face, the sound of her screams, and the disgusting mess of blood that had streamed out from between the girl's fingers, the bullet ceasing any sort of magic that would normally have healed the wound, or at least taken away the pain.

After seeing all of that, Kyouko had quietly resolved to herself that the sniper would pay, one way or another.

This was her chance.

Footsteps clanging below her, and she knew the others were following her. She didn't care about that. She just needed to get to the top of this building before it was too late.

Her heels squeaking in protest as she leapt the last three steps and reached the highest landing, Kyouko sucked in a huge breath before rearing back and kicking the door in.

The slab of metal blew in at the hinges, revealing the room hidden beyond as Kyouko marched in. It looked like an ordinary office meeting room, with open windows and tables. The green haired girl sitting behind the sniper rifle that was propped up against the glass whirled around at the sound of the door being kicked in, and Kyouko knew she had no time to think about what she was going to do. She just had to do it.

Lunging forward with a yell, she seized the sniper around the waist and tackled them both to the carpet, knocking the wind out of the girl's lungs in the process. They both crashed to the floor and became locked in a frantic grappling match as chairs and folders rained down around them, both girls clawing violently at each other as one tried to gain leverage over the other. The sniper landed a few early punches, but Kyouko knew immediately that she was the stronger one in this struggle, and she slowly began to force the girl into a hapless kneeling position.

Panicking, the sniper thrashed and kicked out blindly with her right leg, catching Kyouko under the chin through sheer luck. As the redhead's neck snapped back, the girl rolled away from her and drew a long knife, her other hand glowing with raw magic as she settled into a battle stance, teeth bared like a cornered animal.

Meanwhile, Kyouko had regained her balance and looked up to see the sniper glaring at her menacingly, the pure energy in her hand crackling with killer intent.

The redhead laughed humorlessly as she reached up and wiped the blood away from her lip. "You wanna bring out the magic?" She asked rhetorically, as her Soul Gem began to glow. "Alright, you asked for it."

As her spear materialized in her hand, the sniper snarled and lunged for her neck.

Kyouko knew this fight would be easy. It wasn't easy to explain, but she could _feel_ it; this girl was significantly weaker than the Sisters of fire and lightning. The difference in their power levels was almost pathetic, really. Bending her knees and timing the attack carefully, she dodged to the side as the sniper's knife slashed through the air.

Having overlunged, the green haired girl panicked and flailed around with her weapon as she tried to quickly regain her balance. Not fast enough though, as Kyouko whirled around and used the butt of her spear to clock the girl solidly on the temple, sending her head snapping to the side as her entire body was sent flying into a nearby table. The sniper slid across the smooth surface before falling off the far end, and the spear wielder was on her before she could even pick herself up.

"C'mere!" Kyouko snarled, picking the girl up by her collar and yanking her up. The sniper spat and tried to blast the redhead in the face with a bolt of magic, but Kyouko anticipated this and simply tilted her head to the right, the blast of energy sailing harmlessly past her ear and blowing a shallow hole into the floor instead. Showing her own teeth this time, the redhead flexed and hefted the sniper's body, throwing the girl across the room with all her strength.

That was her first and only mistake. Having not planned the toss, the girl ended up landing right beside her rifle. Scrambling for the weapon and chambering the third round, she swung the gun around and brought the barrel to bear, focusing the sights straight for the redhead's heart.

Before Kyouko could charge her, she fired.

There was a dull_ clink_ as a crimson shield flickered to life around her, and the magical bullet deflected harmlessly to the side. The sniper's eyes went wide as she tried to chamber another round, but Kyouko screamed and rushed forward, smashing the flat side of her spear into the girl's gut. The green haired girl grunted and went crashing into the wall, actually cracking the pale plaster and sending lines webbing along the surface. As small flickers of magic began sparking along the girl's body as it tried to repair her bruised spine, Kyouko unchained her spear and bound the sniper like it was a rope, lifting her up and pushing her up against the wall.

The red haze over her vision was a red screen now. She couldn't think of anything else. _Hurt her. Punish her. _

_Make her pay._

"No! Let me go, please!" The sniper pleaded, but when Kyouko ignored her and instead tightened the spear's grip, the girl yanked out a small pistol from her pocket and aimed it straight between the redhead's eyes. Enraged, Kyouko sent the tip of her spear streaking towards the girl's wrist, having every intention of chopping her arm off if necessary.

_Bang._

One pistol bullet whistling by, but not from the one in front of her. The projectile struck the gun in the sniper's hand and sent it flying into the wall. A second bullet whizzed by a nanosecond later and collided with Kyouko's spear, sending the weapon off course so that it impaled itself into the wall instead.

Looking up, she saw Homura staring grimly back at her, smoke curling languidly from the barrel of her Five Seven.

"Let her go, Kyouko," The shield user intoned, narrowing her eyes. There was a fierce determination there. "We gain nothing by killing her."

Kyouko glared back at her, chest rising and falling rapidly as she breathed like she'd just run a marathon. Sweat was drenching her brow. The red haze had lifted somewhat, and through it she realized partially how much she had overreacted. Blinking and swallowing thickly for a moment, she looked back at the sniper and released her, the spear chaining itself before disappearing all together as she released her hold on her magic.

The green haired girl fell to the floor with a small whimper, and something in her body language told them she wouldn't be doing any running anytime soon.

[_Fascinating,_] Kyubey murmured as he entered the room carefully and inspected the scene. [_It's been along time since I last saw you come close to losing control, Kyouko. You really turn into a different beast when you are angry._]

[_Shut up,_] The redhead growled back, kicking at the alien.

Meanwhile, Homura brushed past them and squatted in front of the sniper, who was crumpled against the wall and breathing heavily.

"So sorry about that," The shield user said, not sounding apologetic at all. "My friend just has bad memories about you."

The sniper's irises dilated when she saw her. "You..." She muttered, narrowing her eyes through the pain. "I shot you."

"You did," Homura agreed, closing her eyes. "It was a good shot, but you were off by just a little." She leaned in a little closer, then. "Listen," She said. "We're going to let you leave this building alive, but only on one condition. Don't tell your sisters about this. Not for the next twenty four hours, anyway. After that, I really don't care. Understood?"

The sniper stared back at her, the thought of rebellion battling in her eyes for a moment before flaring out. She nodded, and Homura bowed her head gracefully, stepping away and rising to a standing position. The green haired girl picked herself up from the ground soon afterwards and backed away slowly towards the second door in the room, one that led down a long hall. Homura supposed she didn't want to go through Kyouko to leave through the first one.

A touch on her shoulder, and the redhead herself was sighing behind her. [_I'm sorry,_] She said. [_I lost control. I almost exposed us..._]

Homura reached up and twined their fingers together. [_It's okay,_] She said. [_Adversity lives inside us all_.]

The sniper had reached the door by now, and she sneered at them once before turning to flee down the hall.

Unfortunately for her, she never got the chance.

The girl's body disappeared behind the wall, and Homura was about to turn away when she heard a strangled gasp behind her. Whipping her head around, she heard a sickening crunching sound from just inside the hall, and a final exhalation of breath. The air seemed to still as confusion swept over the five of them, and Homura instinctively opened a storage portal, her entire arsenal of weapons itching at her fingertips should they be needed.

Footsteps. Advancing, slowly, down the hall in their direction. Feeling a profound dread in her chest, Homura drew the same pistol she had just used as quietly as possible, slowly bringing the iron sights up to point at the open door.

Whatever it was that was coming towards them, she was going to get the first shot.

As it turned out, none of that would matter. The mysterious newcomer appeared inside the door, and what Homura saw then stalled her trigger finger for more than a second.

She had silver hair, thin little strings of it, a ratty looking material that hung down past her shoulders. She was tall and spindly, with bony fingers and pale, hollow cheeks, throwing off a visage not unlike a skeleton, a living nightmare back from the dead. Her clothes were simply gray. Her eyes...they were dead, hollow little things, endless pools of darkness, the eyes of a girl who had eaten too much despair in her lifetime.

In her right hand, hanging there like she weighed nothing more than a rag doll, was the sniper's dead body, her neck broken clean through.

"Jesus!" Kyouko swore, tearing out her spear as Homura opened fire. The bullet blasted across the room straight at the silver haired girl's chest, but for some reason the newcomer made no move to dodge.

Homura's eyes dilated when the bullet deflected clean off the girl's body, spraying a brief shower of sparks before clattering to the floor.

"I wouldn't suggest that you try that again," The stranger said to them in a low, rattling voice, and Kyouko froze in the middle of raising her spear like a javelin. "Nothing magical that you hit me with is going to hurt me."

Homura's eyes darted down to the sniper's body, and her nausea rose. The girl's neck was a shattered mess of bones, and the angle that her head was taking was far beyond unnatural. Her eyes looked closer and saw the crushing grip the stranger had on her skin, the force of her fingers so great that they were leaving bruises.

There was no doubt about it. Somehow, she simply knew.

This was an Acolyte.

"Ah, Kyouko," The Acolyte greeted, making the redhead flinch. "Long time no see. Remember me? Thalia! Your father and I have spoken many times...disgusting bastard, that man..."

Homura's mind was racing, and Kyouko's face looked like she was about to be sick. They needed to figure out this new enemy, and fast. From what they had gathered, she was impervious to bullets. Some sort of reinforced skin, then. That must be the basis of her magic. Whether Thalia's protection was universal or simply limited to certain things, however, was still unknown. God, her heart was hammering. Thinking was a little difficult at the moment.

"While I'd love to catch up, I've got somewhere to be," Thalia continued, tossing the sniper's body aside like a bag. The girl went slumping under a table. "Sorry, but you need to get out of my way."

When she took a menacing step forward, Homura bared her teeth and grabbed Kyouko by the arm, raising her shield and unleashing her time magic at the same time.

The world flashed into a monocolor around them, and Kyouko gasped as the transition took place.

"No time to adjust. Think fast," Homura demanded, grabbing the redhead by the shoulders. "She knows you. Who is she?"

"I...her name's Thalia," Kyouko mumbled, still trying to get her bearings. Freezing time could be a little disorienting if one wasn't used it to already. "She was a regular attendant of the sermons at the Church...our parents were friends, but we never liked each other..."

"Okay, but that doesn't really help us," Homura replied tersely, pointing at the frozen silver haired girl staring straight at them. "Do you know anything about her magic? Any weaknesses at all?"

But Kyouko shook her head. "I didn't know she even contracted," She murmured.

Homura gritted her teeth and stared at the ground. "Magical. She said nothing _magical_ would affect her," She suddenly said, raising her head.

"Then why did your bullet not kill her?" Kyouko asked, frowning at the gun still sitting in Homura's right hand.

The shield user stared down at the weapon with her, a million hypothesis streaming through her brain. "Magic...it was stored inside the portal," She said, narrowing her eyes. "Some of my older guns tend to become naturally imbued with magic after sitting in there for a long time...that might have affected the nature of the bullets."

"Do you have any ordinary guns on you, then?" Kyouko asked, and Homura shook her head.

"Only non-magical weapons, huh..." Kyouko stared at Thalia's form. "I don't know about getting into a fistfight with that girl. If she's strong enough to break someone's neck with her fingers, taking a punch from her isn't going to go very well."

"Which brings us to our next question," Homura agreed, drawing the girl's gaze to her. "Do we stay and fight, or run?"

Kyouko's face darkened. "If she's really an Acolyte, we'll have to face her eventually," She said. "Besides, I've got a couple grudges to settle with her, and I'm tired of running."

Homura nodded, easily accepting the decision. "If physical confrontation is the only way to go, then you need to get as close as possible." The two of them walked over to Thalia's frozen body, until they were standing less than an inch apart.

"When I let go, you need to take her immediately," The shield user said. Her timer was ticking; they were running out of time. "Be ready for anything. I can't fight fist to fist, and my guns and arrows are of no help here. You will have to settle everything on your own."

Kyouko nodded, and Homura closed her eyes, exhaling slowly.

"Good luck," She murmured before releasing her magic.

Color rushed back into the contours of the universe like a rising storm, and as the hues began to retake their shape Kyouko felt the lock on the world losing its grip. Digging her heels into the carpet and hunkering down, she yelled and charged forward, crashing into Thalia's midsection half a second later, desperately praying that her head wouldn't run into the equivalent of a solid wall of metal.

Thankfully, she didn't. Kyouko's arms closed around pliant flesh, and Thalia gasped as they both went tumbling to the floor, Homura leaping away from them one moment later. She landed awkwardly and almost fell to the floor herself, but Mami caught her.

"What's going on?" Mami gasped.

"Kyouko's settling an old score," Homura muttered. Thalia yelled something vulgar as the two girls struggled with each other on the floor, a barrage of curses leaving both of their mouths.

"Well, she's going to need a little help, isn't she?" Kiku said knowingly, stepping forward and cracking her knuckles.

Mami felt a small twinge in her gut and reached out. "Kiku, wait-"

Homura felt it coming a second early, but it was also a second too late. If she had taken the time to look out the windows lining the west wall, she would have noticed that the streaks of fire and lightning had finally died out completely. She would have noticed the third figure leaving the ruined battlefield and sprinting towards the building. She would have noticed this, and would have been prepared.

But she wasn't.

Homura grabbed Mami and threw them both down as the second Acolyte blasted her way through the window, completely shattering the twenty foot wide pane of glass and sending razor sharp shards pinwheeling through the air. Kiku turned around and was barely fast enough to see the girl before she smashed into her, sending the illusionist crashing through the weakened wall so fast that she broke through and went flying into a desk in the next hall, slumping to the floor in a daze.

"KIKU!" Mami screamed, struggling in Homura's arms to break free. The shield user tried briefly to restrain her, knowing that the blonde wouldn't be any help in this kind of situation, but eventually let her go when the blonde reared back and elbowed her. The blonde scrambled through the hole in the wall as Homura grunted in brief pain, staggering to her feet towards where Kyouko and Thalia were fighting.

Meanwhile, Kyouko slipped up her grip and Thalia saw an opening, lashing out with her fist and connecting with the redhead's arm. The bone underneath broke clean through, making Kyouko roar in pain and kick the girl away. She backed up clutching her arm, breathing heavily as crimson sparks danced around the wound. A second later, her arm was reassembled.

Homura ran up a second later, pointing her pistol at the Acolyte. She knew it was useless, but what else was she supposed to do? She hated being the helpless one.

She fired a few warning shots anyway, the bullets whistling across the room and plinking off the side of Thalia's head. The silver haired girl turned to look at her.

"You really don't learn from trial and error, do you?" The girl asked in a patronizing voice.

[_Homura, get out of here!_] Kyouko shouted mentally, raising her fists again. All her years of surviving on the streets were the only thing keeping her alive at the moment. [_You can't help me. Go protect Mami and Kiku._]

[_But-_]

[_Go! Don't worry about me. I've got this._]

The two of them came together once more, and Homura bared her teeth as her pistol sights swayed between each girl. Then she swore under her breath and turned away, running through the gaping hole in the wall and leaving Kyouko behind.

"You sure about that, Kyouko?" Thalia taunted her as they locked together, the redhead's eyes smoldering and filled with fire. "You might die alone."

"The only dead one here is gonna be you," Kyouko spat back as they collided, sparks of magic sizzling through the air.

* * *

><p><em>Remember to breathe shallowly.<em>

Kiku's footsteps fell lightly as she glided along the thin walkways, trying her best to navigate the small maze of cubicles she had found herself in. She was currently cloaked to her maximum potential, meaning that she was complete invisible to the naked eye. Of course, anyone would normally be able to detect her magic, but there was so much residue discharged into the air at the moment that it was nearly impossible to discern them from each other. The waves of power coming off of Homura, Kyouko, Thalia, and herself were intermingled and muddled, meaning that she could sneak through the light undetected.

She turned the corner, and there was her enemy at the other end of the hall.

The girl looked truly menacing, Kiku thought. She was short and stout, with spiky blue hair spraying outwards from her skull, like Seiyaku's but with a much darker shade. She was dressed to kill; her magical form consisted of a dirty silver breastplate over her front, and a long midnight blue cloak covered the rest and hung just short of her ankles. She looked like a goddam super villain, to be perfectly honest.

Kiku's eyes fell to the girl's hand, and to the oversized tomahawk resting there. Or perhaps it was an undersized battle axe. Either way, the thing looked razor sharp; it was times like these that reminded Kiku quite painfully that she had absolutely no combat ability. All she could do, really, was hide and run.

This was bad. She didn't imagine that Homura or Kyouko were running to save her just yet, and Mami was obviously out of commission. Somehow, she needed to face this enemy and survive. For now, she would just observe. Perhaps discern a weakness.

She tried to take a silent tread across the aisle, but the universe spited her by making her step on a piece of broken glass.

Kiku flinched when the crystal crunched under her foot, and when she looked up the girl with the tomahawk was looking straight at her. Eyes going wide despite the fact that she was cloaked, Kiku threw herself to the floor, cutting her arms on more glass in the process. A second later, the tomahawk spun through the air where her head had just been and lodged itself into the wall, quivering there like one of Homura's arrows.

Swearing internally, Kiku picked herself up and went running down the hall, knowing that the enemy knew her general location already. She needed distance, and fast. Behind her, the Acolyte walked over to her weapon and tore it out of the wall, eyes filled with bloodlust.

Sprinting clear across the room, she threw herself inside a nearby cubicle and crouched behind the makeshift wall set up there, praying desperately that someone would come and save her soon. She just needed to hold out. As long as she didn't make any mistakes like she just had, she would be able to hide-

Her thoughts were scrambled as the tomahawk tore through the wall she was leaning against a mere two inches to her right, whirling past her face and utterly annihilating the computer that was sitting on the desk. Stifling a gasp with her hand, Kiku peeked out at the path she had just taken and was disgusted to see a trail of bright red marking her movements. Looking down, she realized that small drops of blood were still falling from her arms where she had cut them earlier. The wounds were already healing, but she had lost enough blood to allow the Acolyte the track her.

_Shit!_ She thought, covering her head as a follow up blast of magic rattled the cubicle. She needed to change positions. Just a little longer...

Reaching up and grabbing the edge of the cubicle, Kiku turned into the hall.

The Acolyte was standing right at the other end, grinning at her.

Kiku inhaled sharply, realizing too late that her cloak had faded away in the chaos. She was totally visible. Turning around, she made to take the opposite route but was thwarted when it was simply a dead end. Yelling in frustration and kicking the cold wall, she turned back around to face her enemy.

"You know, I usually like to get to know my enemies before I kill them," The tomahawk user murmured, advancing slowly down the hall with her weapon drawn. She seemed to know that Kiku had nowhere to run. Her cloak shifted to the side for a moment, and Kiku saw an entire museum of daggers, knives, and other weapons. The girl was a walking armory.

"Tell me, what is your name?" The Acolyte asked her, stopping ten feet in front of the illusionist and holding the head of her tomahawk in both hands. "I like to attach names to the faces of the dead...it helps me with organization, you see..."

_This girl's out of her damn mind,_ Kiku thought, backing up until the wall stopped her. Still, something compelled her to answer, especially when she looked into the girl's eyes. There was something dead there. Something deserving of pity, as ridiculous as that might sound, given the present situation. She pursed her lips.

"Kiku...Kiku Hanezawa."

"I see..." The girl blinked emotionlessly. She looked almost half asleep. "My name is Famira." She hefted her tomahawk in both hands and raised it above her head, preparing to throw it. Kiku resisted the urge to beg for her life.

"Good bye, Kiku Hanezawa."

Famira's arms swung down.

Kiku closed her eyes-

"TIRO FINALE!"

* * *

><p>Kyouko's pulse was racing. Her breathing was shallow. She felt <em>alive<em>, but dead at the same time. Her enemy was death. That was how she saw things. Perhaps that was why she felt a certain proximity to it, to the end of the world and everything she knew and loved.

She and Thalia were circling each other carefully now, both girls wary of the other's ability. Kyouko had grown up fighting stronger people on the streets. She knew how to play dirty. She knew how to win. But when her foe was a crazy magical girl who was strong enough to literally snap her in half, well...that was a different story.

"Just look at you," Thalia snarled, showing her teeth. A few scrapes were slowly closing themselves on her cheek, the result of their most recent scuffle. "The spitting image of your father. How does it feel to be the child of a liar?"

"Shut up," Kyouko growled, trying to keep her emotions in check.

"I wasn't surprised to find out you were behind his excommunication," Thalia continued. "A liar can only breed liars...his sermons tore my family apart, you know. My parents couldn't agree on whether to believe him or not, because there are always skeptics, and there are always believers..."

"You don't know anything about my dad," Kyouko replied darkly.

The Acolyte laughed. "Nothing? I sleep in his bed!"

That was it. Kyouko lunged forward and the two of them engaged in a wild back and forth once again, trading blows with complete abandon. Kyouko might have been the better fighter, but Thalia had the clear advantage in strength. One hit meant a broken bone, or worse. In order to circumvent this, Kyouko was taken a sort of berserk healing approach, landing as many blows as possible before she took damage, before retreating, healing and going again.

She knew it wasn't the most sound method possible, but her hope had been that she would be able to outlast the other girl. But from the looks of things, Thalia's inhuman strength translated into inhuman levels of stamina as well.

"Weak!" The Acolyte shouted, rushing forward and slamming into Kyouko's front, sending her flying back. The redhead heard her sternum snap, then quickly reassert itself. "You've always been weak, Kyouko, and that is why you must hide behind lies. I never thought we'd meet again, but now that we have, I'm going to grind you into the dust!"

"How many times do I have to tell you to _shut up_?" Kyouko swore, ducking underneath Thalia's leading punch and sending a fist into the girl's gut. She choked at the impact as Kyouko spun around a sent a hefty kick into the Acolyte's chest. It wasn't strong enough to break her sternum, but she did go staggering back a few steps. Thalia regained her balance and rushed forward, aiming her second kick at the redhead's right arm.

Kyouko wasn't going to fall for the same move twice. Sidestepping the blow narrowly, she caught Thalia by the neck and socked her across the face, hard. The Acolyte was immediately dazed by the blow, and Kyouko drew her fist back to punch again. Bringing her knuckles to bear, she aimed to liberate Thalia of a few teeth this time.

Her hand connected with the Acolyte's jaw and promptly shattered into a million pieces.

"Ah - ow!" Kyouko bellowed, quickly retracting her arm and clutching at it as pain buzzed through her entire system. Meanwhile, Thalia spun and kicked her again, breaking her sternum for the second time. Kyouko crashed into the wall yet again and curled into a defensive ball, clutching at her hand as her magic went to work. She was running low on juice. Healing herself literally dozens of times had taken a massive toll on her reserves.

"Looks like you don't have me completely figured out yet," Thalia hissed, wiping a trail of blood off her mouth.

Kyouko glared at her opponent through a thin film of pain-induced tears. _How? _Invulnerable to physical attacks, too...was the girl invincible?

Coughing violently and managing to stand back up, she flexed her newly constructed hand. Well, at least she didn't have to use her fists anymore. Reaching inside her soul, she summoned her spear.

She was about to charge when something tickled her ear.

"TIRO FINALE!"

"What?" Kyouko said out loud, absolutely floored.

A moment later, a pure blast of golden energy incinerated the wall, carving out a second hole next to the first one and filling the entire building with a blinding light. Kyouko and Thalia both fell to the floor and covered their eyes as the world filled with its brilliance, whiting everything else temporarily out of existence.

Kyouko saw a dark shadow being blasted away by the golden beam, a blank silhouette wearing a cape and holding an axe. As Mami's power faded out and the blinding light died with it, she saw that it was the smoking body of the second Acolyte, the girl having been thrown clear out the window and into the terrifying drop beyond. Some small part of the redhead wondered if the girl really was going to die.

The Acolyte's body twitched a moment later, and a pair of batlike wings extended from her body.

Kyouko sighed. _Of course._

Rapid footsteps behind her. Turning, Kyouko was surprised to see Homura sprinting full tilt towards the open window, her wings already flaring out from her back. Pausing for a moment at the edge of the abyss, the time traveler leapt high into the air, her angelic wings catching the air and propelling her forward. It then occurred to Kyouko that Homura intended to fight the batlike Acolyte hovering in the air outside the building.

_Damn,_ she thought numbly. _That's cool._

* * *

><p>There was a moment of perpetual silence as the two longtime friends stared at each other, completely at a loss for words.<p>

Then Mami's eyes rolled back in her head, and she collapsed.

"Mami!" Kiku said, scrambling to her feet and rushing over to the blonde. That had been an incredible output of power; firing off that much energy after staying away from magic for so long was bound to have negative effects on one's body. Sliding to a stop beside the blonde, she gingerly cradled her head in her arms. "Mami..."

A seemingly endless series of holes had been torn through the many layers of cubicles set up in the office room, the irregular circles smoking around the edges and glowing white hot. Through them Kiku could see the shattered window Famira had come in through, and the brunette wondered if the Acolyte had really fallen off the edge of the building. The air around them was terribly quiet now, the sounds of conflict distant and otherworldly between them, as Kiku could only thing to pull Mami closer to her.

The girl was trying to whisper something. "What?" Kiku asked, tears starting to blur her vision. She really wasn't used to any of this. She leaned closer, straining to hear what the blonde was saying. Mami reached up and held her hand.

"No...body…"

"Don't strain yourself," Kiku scolded her, and for a moment things were as they had been, and she was the one looking after Mami, not the other way around, not like this. But the blonde simply smiled, the light in her eyes already dimming.

"Nobody...hurts my friends."

Then her eyes closed, her head falling back. Panicking, Kiku checked her pulse and was relieved to find it running swiftly. The blonde was simply unconscious.

Staring down at Mami and watching her chest rise and fall slowly, Kiku could only wipe at her eyes and hold the blonde closer.

_Oh, Mami..._

* * *

><p>Homura hadn't imagined something like this would ever happen.<p>

She had seen all sorts of powers by now. Swords, spears, guns. Tomahawks and axes. Hell, there was a literal tank of a girl standing somewhere in the building behind her.

But since when was she not the only magical girl capable of flight?

"I don't really think you should try to stop me..." Famira said worriedly, drawing her cloak around her. Her dark wings flapped continuously, working to keep her afloat. "It would be terribly bad for organization, you see..."

Homura frowned and shook her head, guessing that this girl wasn't exactly the pinnacle of mental stability. Still, she had to be apprehended. Focusing her mind, she summoned her bow and knocked an arrow, pulling back on the string until she could aim properly.

"I see..." Famira said almost regrettably, eyeing the purple bolt pointed straight at her. "Then, if you don't mind, your name..."

"Akemi Homura," She growled, and released the arrow.

The girl was faster than she seemed. The dark wings folded in half, and the Acolyte's body swung quickly to the side, the arrow sailing by harmlessly. Homura cursed and nocked another one, all while using her wings to gain more elevation. She loosed three arrows this time, all at once, but Famira surprised her by batting every last one aside with her tomahawk. Such a reaction time...it made her doubt the strength of her arrows.

"Good bye, Akemi Homura," Famira said sadly, as she reared back and hurled the weapon at her.

Homura had never used her wings as anything more than a method of transportation, and any sort of maneuvering she had had to do was mostly linear. As such, it was a miracle that she managed to change her position in time to avoid the tomahawk tearing her midsection in half. Groaning as she spun around in the air and the world tilted within her vision, Homura righted herself and blindly fired a fifth arrow at Famira. The Acolyte produced another tomahawk from within her cloak and crushed the projectile.

_How many of those does she even have?_ Homura wondered uselessly.

Three points of light sprang out from Famira's form then, and it took her a second to realize that they were daggers. Mind going into overclock, Homura brought her shield to bear and barely managed to catch the razors with it. The blades shattered against her defense and fell to the ground far below, towards the empty streets and lonely rooftops dotting the cityscape.

_Damn! She's fast! _Homura thought to herself as Famira began to bombard her with a seemingly endless hail of daggers, axes, needles and various other blades, making the shield user barely able to deflect all of them, let alone attempt to take her down. Checking her shield, she found that it was still sometime before she could stop time again. The wind rushed around Homura's head as she literally dodged for her life, firing arrows up at her opponent whenever she could. But even her accurate shots were for naught, because a tomahawk was always there to destroy the arrow before it made contact.

_Alright, let's test just how fast you can be,_ Homura thought fiercely, throwing her bow away. The weapon dissipated as she pulled out an assault rifle instead. The added weight would slow her down, but this way she could attack more swiftly, and hopefully surpass the limits of Famira's speed.

Aiming carefully down sights, she opened fire.

Astoundingly, the Acolyte didn't bother to move. Instead she waited until the barrage of bullets reached her before pulling out two blades and sending herself into maximum speed. Homura's eyes went wide as Famira's hands became a literal blur, the blades moving so swiftly that they were able to defect all twenty of the bullets that had been going straight for her heart.

Yelling in frustration, Homura raked her wings downwards and went barreling straight towards the girl. Perhaps if she got close enough, Famira would not be able to react in time to block bullets.

Possibly sensing her intention, the Acolyte turned and sped away in the opposite direction, back towards the building. Homura dropped her used magazine and didn't bother to retrieve it, letting the steel casing tumble down into the abyss as she reloaded and began firing erratically, desperately attempting to score at least one successful hit. But Famira blocked all of them, her arms blurring before her like an impregnable shield, the sparks of severed bullets lighting the night sky between them.

A hollow click told her she was out of bullets, but Homura didn't have time to reload because a second barrage of daggers was sent screaming towards her, forcing the shield user to dive away, back towards the building she had come from.

[_Homura, watch out!_]

Snapping her head up, she realized her blunder. Famira hadn't been trying to kill her with those daggers. No, she was only trying to drive her back towards the building, where the true answer to the problem lay.

Thalia was charging towards the window, having apparently fought Kyouko off just seconds earlier.

Homura tried to change course, but Thalia had her path predicted. Leaping from the building, the Acolyte latched onto Homura's back, her added weight almost immediately causing a severe drop in altitude. The time traveler gasped as she tried to shake Thalia off and maintain her height simultaneously, but the task proved too arduous.

Especially when Thalia seized her left wing and literally tore it off.

It wasn't as if the wings were an actual part of her. She felt no pain upon losing them, but that didn't mean it came without consequences. The world tilted around her field of vision as she plummeted out of the sky, Thalia letting go of her and falling faster than her as Homura tried desperately to keep altitude with only one wing left. Below her, she saw a small shockwave and assumed that Thalia had landed safely. The perks of being a human tank.

Looking above her, her heart sank upon seeing a third wave of daggers headed her way. She had no way to dodge this, not anymore.

Just as she raised her shield to try anyway, Kyouko spawned a shield around her. The daggers clattered against the crimson wall and slid off to the side, falling down into the abyss below.

[_Homura, break into one of the lower floors!_] Kyouko yelled into her head, resharpening the shield user's focus. Twisting her body, she took control of her momentum and sent herself crashing into one of the windows that were flying by, subsequently entering one of the lower floors of the building. A spray of glass shot out at the point of impact, and Homura slid across the floor before colliding with a desk.

"Ow..." She moaned, clutching her head and letting the pain slowly subside. Violet sparks dance along her skull, working to heal her. Once it did, she dismissed her one remaining wing and approached the broken window.

She saw the shadow of Famira winging her way back to the Church, much too quickly to be caught up to. Looking down, she couldn't see Thalia, but assumed the tank was long gone as well.

Letting out a pent up breath she hadn't known she'd been holding, Homura fell down into a sitting position and stared numbly up at the moon. She felt complete drained. She couldn't remember the last time she had fought an enemy so powerful and lost. Walpurgisnaucht, she supposed. It wasn't something she really wanted to put significant thought into.

[_Homura._] Kyouko's voice spoke through her mind. [_Homura, are you alright?_]

[_Yeah...yeah, I'm fine,_] She said back, still too exhausted to even think about moving. [_How are things up there?_]

[_Well, the office is totally trashed,_] Kyouko said bluntly, bringing a small smile to Homura's face. [_I don't know how we're going to get away with this one. And...eugh, looks like Kyubey got caught in the crossfire. I'm standing in front of his carcass right now, and it's totally mangled._]

[_Please don't bring that image into my head,_] Homura sighed back. [_Don't worry, he has endless replacements._]

[_I know,_] Kyouko replied, and then a slight pause. [_To think that there are two more of those..._]

She was right, of course. According to Mishki's information, the Acolytes were four members strong. [_I suppose the other two stayed behind, to protect the stash._]

Somehow, she knew that Kyouko was shaking her head dismissively. [_Who cares about them? When we get there, I'm going to tear Thalia a new one._]

Homura smiled wanly and rested her head against the half broken windowpane, feeling the darkness creeping up on her. [_I hope you do._]

[_Damn right. Just hang tight, we'll come down to get you. Then we're getting the heck out of here._]

Outside, the moon shone down on them, without a single care in the world.

* * *

><p><strong>Believe it or not, all things will come to a head in the next chapter. I think. I'm really trying my best not to rush things here, but I'll admit I'm a little impatient to get started on Part II.<strong>

**I'm glad you guys seem to be up for that, by the way.**

**As always, thanks for reading. Tell me your thoughts in the reviews, I do read them all.**

**~Banshee**


	19. When Honesty Is Not Enough

**Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you...**

**…a 15,000 word chapter.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 19: When Honesty Is Not Enough<p>

Kiku didn't know what she had done in her life to deserve this.

As the brunette sat cross legged on the floor and watched Mami sleep with tightly closed eyes, she thought about all the things the blonde had done for her. It was always Mami looking out for her, and not vice versa. Mami giving her advice on relationships. Mami reminding her not to forget to study for this test, or go to that event, like a mother she could actually relate with, and not the cold and unforgiving biological one she had at home.

Sighing, she turned away from the bed and leaned against the side of the post, closing her eyes to dull the throb of the single light hanging above them. It was a small, cramped room, short on space despite the fact that it was both abandoned and mostly empty. Just one of the many abandoned building complexes surrounding the fringe of the Religious District. It had surprised Kiku at first to find so many empty buildings in this area, but in hindsight it made sense. She wouldn't want to be living right next to a bunch of psychotic magical girls either.

The blonde sleeping behind her muttered something incoherent from within the abyss of her dreams, breaking the brunette out of her thoughts. She turned and peeked over the edge of the mattress at Mami.

She had thought it was finally her chance. An opportunity to repay Mami for everything she had done for her. But what had she ended up accomplishing? Just a massive vat of lies, so large that it had disillusioned even her to the truth, but not big enough to hide her from justice. She had done so much to achieve such a petty goal, but in the end it was Mami laying unconscious on the bed, not her.

_You're so unfair,_ Kiku thought, smiling wanly as she brushed a stray strand of hair from the blonde's forehead. _You never give me a chance._ If she were to be totally honest, she would have to say that she had always admired the image of the dashing hero whisking his princess away, the girl's frail frame cradled gently in his arms. It was a symbol of strength, of security. For a little while she had trapped herself in the visage of the hero, the delusion of being what she wasn't.

But now, after all this, it turned out that she was actually the princess.

Kiku sighed to herself, and at that moment the blonde awoke.

"Mami," She intoned softly, watching without a word as the girl's eyes slid slowly open. It was with a cool grace that the blonde regained her consciousness, and it was evidence that she was used to waking up like this. It was also evidence that Mami was the one who knew what she was doing, not her, who had entered the world of magic and despair but some months ago.

"Kiku." The brunette's ears strained to pick up any sort of derision in the word, but there was none. Something twisted in her chest. Mami turned her head in the pillow and smiled weakly at her, reaching out from the beneath the sheets to grasp her wrist.

"Looks like we made it...are you hurt anywhere?" She asked quietly, as Kiku's irises dilated. The illusionist swallowed thickly and reached up to grasp Mami's wrist back, knowing that the pressure behind her fingers was too strong but unable to bring herself to care. The blonde simply frowned and tilted her head, those impossible, accommodating spots of gold staring at her with concern, with _concern_, not hatred or disappointment.

How was that even possible?

"Kiku?" Mami asked again, more incredulously this time as the brunette began to openly cry, releasing the blonde's hands to cover her own face instead, unable to stop the bitter flow of tears springing from her eyes and burning searing tracks of regret down her cheeks. "Kiku, are you alright?" Mami asked a third time, panic entering her voice as she untangled herself from the bed sheets and reached down to cradle the girl's head in her hands.

But the illusionist simply shook her off, falling back onto her behind as she simultaneously attempted to dry her face. Mami let her jaw hang open slightly in disappointment and dropped her hands to her sides. She wouldn't approach Kiku if it wasn't what the girl wanted. This constitution was quickly shattered, however, because Kiku was suddenly hitting her repeatedly with weak fists.

"What-" Mami started, looking down in bewilderment at the girl who seemed to be putting her all into pummeling the front of her shirt, intermittent sobs interrupting the constant flow of strikes. The blows didn't hurt, but that didn't lessen the level of her confusion. Reaching out and grabbing the girl firmly by the wrists, Mami tried to reassert control. "Kiku, it's okay, just-"

"Why won't you get mad at me?" Kiku sobbed, breaking free from Mami's weakened grip and continuing to hit her.

_What?_

"You're always so unfair," The brunette said thickly, her punches slowing until they ultimately stopped, and Mami could only watch. "Why are you being so _nice_? You know what I did. You know how much I lied to you, and yet...you continue to smile!..."

It had been a long time since Mami had last cried earnestly, but when she reached up to rub at the irritating film that had appeared over her vision she was surprised to find that her fingers came away damp. What was wrong with her? She had known what she was getting herself into, after all. She had given the issue much thought, and after hours and endless hours of careful deliberation, she had ultimately decided to forgive her friend...so why cry now? Why grieve when a decision had already been made?

But that was the fool's path, she realized, as Kiku continued to drench her front. It was true. She was the unfair one. The terrible things Kiku had gone through were now laid out for the world to see, all the ugly and detestable thoughts, and she was trying to meet those thoughts with kindness...it was perverse in its own right.

Kiku was about to punch Mami again when she felt a pair of arms wrapping around her. Looking up, she found her vision blacked out as the blonde pulled her in for a crushing hug, and her heart skipped a beat when she realized that the older girl was crying, too.

"It's okay, Kiku," Mami assured her, keeping her composure a little more effectively. "It's okay. It's okay, I forgive you. Don't cry."

But that just made her want to cry more, and she balled Mami's shirt up in her fists. "I just wanted to protect you for once," She said bitterly, as the arms held her tighter. "I wanted to be the hero..."

It really was remarkable, Mami thought, as she leaned down to bury her nose lovingly into those brown locks of hair, that Kiku had maintained her composure until now. Waking up to find yourself thrust into the world of puella magi, with no one to protect and guide you, was an impossibly tall order. To be completely, utterly alone among the rising shadows of demons, and not just your own. It was so painfully similar to her own situation that it made her want to cry even harder.

That was the real tragedy, actually. She's been fighting all this time to protect her own private normalcy, the ordinary and warm existence that Kiku had embodied. But she had lost that now, because the two of them were now part of the same world.

"Yeah, I know how that feels," Mami finally agreed, forcing a smile as she suppressed the urge to sniffle. Kiku simply continued to sob.

"I'm sorry, Mami, I'm so sorry..."

* * *

><p>"You think Saki's going to be alright with Mami?" Kyouko asked as she planted her spear on the ground and leaned against it.<p>

Homura looked up from her observational work to address the redhead. "It might take time. But I believe Mami will forgive her. After everything that's happened, I don't think either of them could shun the other for very long."

Kyouko couldn't really disagree with that.

They were standing atop a ruined building that overlooked the great plains of the district, trying to scope out any clues that would help them formulate a plan. It was the tallest building in the vicinity that they could find, but it still didn't give them a very effective vantage point on the Church.

The twisted cathedral sat atop its signature hill before them, its spires and towers reaching up towards the heavens as if begging for forgiveness. Kyouko didn't really know what good being out here was going to do, but Homura had insisted on it, and it wasn't as if she were a tactical genius herself. Maybe she just didn't like being out here. It was unexplainable, but simply looking at the Church was giving her a weird feeling in her gut, as if she were unknowingly stealing a bad apple.

"You don't want to be here, do you?" Homura asked without looking up this time, focusing her energies on the cathedral soaring high above them.

Kyouko turned to stare at the time traveler, before looking up at the Church and back down again. Homura was right, of course. There was a reason why people didn't come around here anymore. The "bad vibe" that Mishki had told them about was strongest here, at its very core. She had never been the thematic type, but Kyouko couldn't only describe it as "evil"...a literal heart of darkness. The feeling that they had no idea what they were getting into, that this felt a little too unplanned, even to her. Among other reasons.

"Of course I don't," She answered at last, gesturing vaguely above them. "You think I would? With our luck, the Acolytes probably know we're here already, which takes away the element of surprise. Which was pretty much our only advantage to begin with. Not to mention that I can literally _feel_ the despair in the air, here..."

"Is that all?" Homura asked without emotion, so as not to come off as patronizing. She didn't want to offend the girl, but she also disliked not addressing the obvious elephant in the room.

Kyouko gritted her teeth and looked up at the sky. It was a blank and unforgiving gray as always, like a clouded bowl had been dropped over all of Kazamino. Homura was right. Homura was always right. Of course that wasn't it. There were other reasons, many of them, all of a very personal nature. But what was the point of voicing those aloud now? It wouldn't change anything, and she would still be the same broken person afterwards.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Homura intoned from her seat at the edge of the building, and Kyouko realized she had fallen silent. "Just...I was just a little worried."

Kyouko ceased her pacing and turned to stare at the time traveler again, her arms crossed. The girl's eyes were shining a vibrant purple, as she employed small amounts of magic to enhance her vision, in hopes of finding something out about the Acolytes. Then she sighed and walked over to the girl's side, plopping herself down so that she could lean against her girlfriend, eyes closed.

Homura blushed right on cue, the light in her eyes flickering for a moment before regaining strength.

"No...you're right," Kyouko finally conceded, opening her eyes to glare irritably at the cathedral. "That's not all of it. It's hard to explain, really. It's just this feeling of regret, I guess. Like I made a mistake somehow."

"What do you regret?" Homura asked softly, slipping her hand out to wrap her fingers around Kyouko's, though she did not break her concentration to do so.

"I don't know," The redhead repeated simply, bowing her head to stare at how their hands were interlocking. Her eyes glassed over as she lost herself in trailing her fingers over Homura's. "When I left Kazamino, I always had this idea, somewhere in my head, that things here were always going to be the same. It's home, after all. Home never changes."

"Only it did," Homura contributed, the light from her irises extinguishing themselves momentarily as she blinked.

"Yeah," Kyouko agreed tiredly, turning to run her nose gently across the time traveler's shoulder. It was almost cathartic to lean against her. "Things changed when I came back. Almost everything did, actually. But even still, I had this small hope that the Church at least would be unaffected. That's where my true home was, after all. But that changed too. Not only that, it's become a place of evil, a spot that people avoid instead of flock to for comfort."

She paused then, wanting to gather her thoughts. Homura simply remained silent, knowing that she was now fulfilling the role of listener. Kyouko appreciated that. Anyone else would have taken the opportunity to inject their own bullshit opinions, but not her.

"I guess that's where the regret comes from," Kyouko concluded tentatively, holding her hand up so that Homura's twined fingers rose with it, turning the two hands over in the meager light in muted fascination. "I never really apologized, you know. To my dad. I felt sorry; I _was_ sorry. But I never got the chance to say it. I just couldn't; it would have felt too much like a goodbye. But I knew I could take as much time as I wanted. Death is eternal, after all. So when I left, I thought things would stay that way. But it turns out I was wrong, and now I don't know if I'll ever get that chance again."

Kyouko fell silent then, mulling around to see if there was anything else she wanted to say. She found none. Still, there was this sense of impatience in her chest, the feeling that she still had more to say, when it reality she had said everything. She supposed mere words could not convey the essence of her emotions. Only actions could.

Homura wasn't saying anything either, and Kyouko found herself wondering if she ever would. The girl wasn't someone to show sympathy for others, especially not if it was their fault to begin with. Kyouko didn't expect to get any sympathy from Homura. Then again, she didn't want any. She had just wanted to voice her own thoughts, for once.

The time traveler closed her eyes then, the magical light fading into nothing. Kyouko lifted her head from the girl's shoulder and looked up at her as she inhaled slowly.

"Opportunities are not something that can be dolled out like a commodity, Kyouko," Homura said, and the redhead couldn't tell if she was being scolded or consoled. "They're something you make for yourself. If you want the chance to settle things with your past, you must create that chance on your own."

"It isn't that easy," Kyouko reminded her, looking down. "You saw how powerful Thalia and Famira are, and that's just two of them. There is no guarantee we'll be able to beat them. We don't even know what we're going to do about the Radix when it gets here...how am I supposed to hope for anything, with odds like that?"

"So, what, do you plan to just roll over and die?" Homura asked almost angrily, and Kyouko paused in surprise. The time traveler sighed and squeezed the redhead's hand again. "I'm sorry. But this isn't like you, Kyouko. You're usually the confident one..."

Kyouko laughed humorlessly and looked back up at the Church. It was backed by an ashy halo at this time of day, and it was a sight that had always confused her. The sliding shadows of the cathedral were almost monotonous with the light, so that she couldn't distinguish the darkness from it.

It was a disorienting uniformity.

"That's the bullshit thing about it," She said. "I don't have a plan, Homura. I never do. I've winged ninety-nine percent of my life. I suppose it makes sense that I'm not very lucky, in that respect. I don't think things through. Yet I act confident. I'm not like you, Homura. I can't see far into the future; hell, I'm too busy facing the past."

The time traveler didn't say anything for a little while after that, and it appeared to Kyouko that she had made her point. She wasn't happy about the fact, however.

"It isn't always good to plan everything," Homura said suddenly, brushing her fingers over Kyouko's knuckles. "It doesn't allow for pleasant surprises. Imagine the horror of knowing everything that's going to happen to you."

"It's less horrific than living in constant suspense," Kyouko muttered.

"Think about it, Kyouko. If you were just like me, we never would have even met each other, much less ended up like this," Homura countered, and the redhead fell silent, logically defeated. The shield user sighed. "All I'm saying is that you don't get to decide when it's over. Time does that for you. So until it does, you shouldn't give up."

Kyouko frowned, and Homura could tell she was struggling to accept her words. There was so much more the time traveler wanted to say, but for once she decided to hold her tongue. She wanted to say that they would succeed, that the Acolytes would fall before them, that the Radix would be defeated, and that Kyouko would come to terms with her father's memory. But she couldn't make such flippant promises irresponsibly, even if it would make the redhead feel better. Homura wouldn't be able to bear the shame in the event that they actually lost.

As Kyouko's companion, she had to allow the redhead to feel despair.

The spear wielder smiled suddenly then, nodding almost incrementally. "I guess you're right," She said, straightening out of her hunch and raising her chin. "It ain't over till the fat lady sings!"

"I never understood that metaphor," Homura sighed. "Life isn't an opera."

"No, it's more like a concert," The redhead quipped, turning to face her partner. "Oh, and Homura?"

"Hmm?"

Kyouko leaned in and kissed her tenderly.

"Thanks."

* * *

><p>Regardless of how positive Homura had managed to make Kyouko feel, the truth remained that they still needed a plan. Regardless of her condemnation of careful deliberations, this fight was one she refused to go into frivolously.<p>

The atmosphere in the abandoned apartment building felt different when the two of them returned. It had been tense and uncertain when they left, and Homura had almost tried to take Kiku with them. She didn't know what would happen if Mami woke up with only the illusionist there to greet her. But something had prompted her to leave the brunette be, and she had at least taken Kyouko along with her. She at least knew for sure that the redhead hadn't forgiven Kiku yet.

She was surprised, therefore, to find her seniors sitting close together on the carpet when she opened to door.

"Welcome back," Kiku greeted them promptly, looking up from her seat. It was then that Homura was forced to correct her earlier description; they weren't sitting close to each other, they were practically _cuddling_. She turned and noticed that Kyouko was staring too, and she decided to change topics.

"Wasn't much out here to see," She said without being asked, taking a seat around the low table that singly occupied the room. "Whatever they're doing or hiding in the Church, it's kept tight under wraps. I can't even determine their exact locations within the cathedral."

Mami narrowed her eyes in deep thought. "I don't know about storming that hill without some sort of pre-obtained information," She said tactfully. "It feels like too big of a risk to take."

Homura blinked, her scripted responses stalled momentarily. She wasn't entirely sure, but it seemed like the blonde had regained some of her old composure and motherly aura. Maybe it was just her.

"Right," She replied at last, speaking when she felt those golden irises fixate on her. The power had returned to them. "As things stand, we have no way of obtaining additional information about the enemy. Therefore, we need to consult an alternative source."

"What are you suggesting?" Kiku asked from across the table, as Kyouko's eyes fixed themselves on her.

Homura pursed her lips and dug around in her pocket before pulling out a smooth, rounded stone.

"I am suggesting that we use this," She said, holding up the rock for all to see. It looked totally unimpressive to the uninformed eye, but the four of them all knew what it was. "Seiyaku and Mishki are together, so if I use this to contact them we may be able to gather more information. Not to mention that we don't know their status either; it would do to check up on them."

"Are you sure about that, though?" Mami voiced, straightening up in her seat. She shrugged off Kiku as a result, and the brunette looked utterly disappointed by the fact, though the blonde didn't seem to notice. "That stone is just a one time use. What if we need it later but aren't able to use it?"

Homura nodded, finding that she was liking the newly rejuvenated Mami much better than her timid, cowardly version. It was much easier to work with this side of the blonde. "Precisely. Which is why, for this decision, I am asking for your opinions. Obviously, I think we should use it now. But if the rest of you are against it, I will not."

The three remaining puella magi each exchanged doubtful glances. It wasn't often that Homura asked for the input of others, and that only gave the situation additional gravity.

[_Do I get to vote, too?_] Kyubey asked abruptly from the corner.

"No," Homura said bluntly.

Kyouko snorted. "I say do it," She said, placing a hand on her knee and leaning forward. "Once we're inside the Church, I doubt you'll have the time to make a phone call if we're in the middle of a battle. It's pretty much do or die once we get up that hill...there's no other time to use it but now."

Homura turned to the third years for their insight, but all they did was pause before nodded in agreement. Kyubey lashed his tail from the shadows; it appeared the alien was the only one in disagreement, but it was for that reason that Homura had rescinded his vote.

"Very well," The time traveler said, placing the diminutive stone on the table. "Let's hope this is worth it."

Closing her eyes, she summoned her Soul Gem and pressed it to the stone's cool surface, channeling her energies into the magic imbued within.

Something reached out from the stone and seized her consciousness almost immediately, and a quick glance at the others told her that they were experiencing the same thing. A distorted image began to form itself in her mind's eye, as if another individual's imagination were being reflected across her subconscious, a dream among reality. It was awfully disorienting and totally foreign, and Homura found herself staggering backwards for a moment, saved only when Kyouko's strong grip kept her from falling.

Meanwhile, the mental image had solidified itself, revealing to them the graceful form of a certain Buzzer.

"Homura!" Seiyaku said, in surprise, spinning around and approaching them. Or it appeared that she was, anyway. It was difficult to discern completely. "Is everything all right?"

"Seiyaku," She greeted back, though the words were slightly slurred. She tried to sit up again but found that overly difficult, so she settled for laying down instead, figuring it wouldn't affect Seiyaku's field of vision.

"God damn it, did you have to make this such an uncomfortable process?" Kyouko complained to Homura's right, the redhead leaning gingerly against the wall.

The Buzzer chuckled a little guiltily and held up one hand. "Sorry, guys. Long range telepathy isn't really my specialty. The stone was just for emergencies, after all." She paused then, her expression becoming more solemn. "So, is there an emergency?"

"Not exactly," Homura replied, her voice becoming stronger as she adjusted her mental faculties to the foreign magic. "We were just wondering if you could give us any more information about the Acolytes."

She couldn't see any of Seiyaku's surroundings, as the girl was backed by a dull, shimmering whiteness instead. The Buzzer held her chin in one hand for a moment in thought. "I can't really say much else aside from what you already know," She answered earnestly, "But Mishki might know something I don't."

Turning, the short haired girl called out the guide's name, and a moment later the small girl appeared in everyone's mind's eye.

"Hey there," She greeted them with a brief wave of the hand. "You look beat. Have you reached the Church yet?"

"We're sitting right outside the border of the Religious District," Kyouko replied. "We tried scoping out the place with magic but found nothing. Is there anything you can tell us about them that would help?"

"Hmm..." Mishki crossed her arms. "Not much. There are four of them, but you already know that. One is a tank variant, someone who can take virtually any attack full brunt, and another is some sort of demonic blade throwing freak."

"Yeah, we ran into them a couple hours ago," Kiku said blandly, as the rest of them cringed at the memory. "They were as friendly as we expected them to be."

Mishki raised her eyebrows. "So you've tangled with them already? Well, congratulations on surviving, I guess." She paused. "That reminds me, did you find either of the Sisters on your way there?"

"No," Homura said, thinking back. "That doesn't make sense, actually. We went right through the spot where the battle took place, but there were no bodies...just scorch marks."

Mishki nodded. "The Acolytes don't do it often, thankfully, but whenever they battle other factions they never leave any bodies behind. Most think that they are just overly paranoid about being discovered by humanity, but some speculate that the girls that they defeat are not actually dead, but being held hostage."

Hostage...the idea didn't fit very well. What would the Acolytes gain from capturing other magical girls? She wracked her brain for a moment in an attempt to find an answer to the question, but found none. Just another jaded piece of the puzzle.

"Anything you can tell us about the other two?" Kyouko asked impatiently.

"Thalia and Famira, huh..." Mishki seemed to be distracted by an absent thought. "I don't know much about the other two, to be honest. People rarely see either of them. The first is a kind of illusionist like Saki, who people call Kagami...and the fourth, well, know one knows."

Homura frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that no one knows her face, her name, her powers, anything," Mishki replied, eyes closed in frustration. "Or if they do, they aren't talking. I guess we wouldn't know there was a fourth, otherwise. Either way, it's a total mystery. The 'mystery Acolyte' hasn't left the Church in over a year, and anyone who might have seen her before hand is dead."

She heard Kyouko sigh irritably from the wall. "Yeah, well, that sure helps a lot."

"I'm sorry," Mishki said regrettably. "But that's all I know. It might not be so bad, though. The fourth Acolyte might be too weak or fragile to leave the cathedral."

"Doubtful," Kiku muttered, and a deep silence fell amongst them.

"How are things going on your end, Seiyaku?" Homura decided to ask, not wanting to dwell on the inevitable.

The Buzzer sighed. "Well enough, I guess. We've swept through most of the districts by now, and there are only a few left. Almost everyone chose to follow us and avoid the Radix, though some refused."

"That's surprising," Homura replied. "I expected you to meet more resistance than that."

"Oh, you can bet we did," Seiyaku laughed. "But Mishki and I can be very...convincing. I think it's just the common fear of the Radix that's keeping all these factions from killing each other, actually. Not everyone who decided to come with us is interested in peace. They're just in it for their own safety."

Kyouko grunted. "You think you can bring some of those louts over to help us out?"

"I don't know about that," Mishki sighed. "These guys are trying to get _away_ from the Radix, not go and fight it. I wouldn't count on any reinforcements if I were you. Seiyaku and I will get there as soon as we can, though."

Homura couldn't help feeling a bit of disappointment. She hadn't really been counting on it, but some small part of her had hoped that they wouldn't be totally alone in this fight.

"We'll try our best, Homura," Seiyaku assured her, probably sensing her disquiet. "Just...don't expect anything."

_Do I ever?_ She thought to herself, as the rest of them exchanged their subsequent goodbyes, and the mental transmission closed itself off. The stone experienced a severe drop in magical value, and then it was just an ordinary rock, the world's most unadorned paperweight.

There was moment of unspoken tension as the four of them stared at the innocent rock sitting on the table, quietly realizing that the conversation had done virtually nothing to help them.

Homura was, of course, the first one to react. "We have just one more day until the Radix reaches the cathedral," She said, rising to her feet. "We'll leave later tonight. Kiku, come with me; we need to discuss some battle strategies."

"What? Oh, okay..." The brunette murmured, seemingly reluctant to leave Mami's side. The two of them left the room swiftly, the door clicking softly shut behind them.

Kyubey melted into the shadows, leaving Kyouko and Mami alone.

The redhead tried to ignore the blonde's presence at first, before realizing how pointless that was and looking up. Mami seemed distracting by an errant though, and for a moment Kyouko simply watched her, wondering about the psyche behind that regal face, knowing that she had never really figured the girl out in all the years they had known each other. She wondered if, some years later, she would feel the same about Homura.

"So you've forgiven her?" She said at last, knowing that Mami would never start anything between them.

The older girl blinked before turning her gaze back. "Yes...I suppose you could say that," She said levelly, folding her hands on the table and offering what seemed like a confident smile.

Kyouko wasn't fooled, however. "Aren't you angry?"

Mami smiled faintly. "Of course I am," She said. "But when I look back at everything that's happened, and all the mistakes I've made...I don't feel like I'm in the position to hold any grudges. All of this could have been prevented, after all, if I wasn't how I was. I owe an apology to Akemi-san, and to you, as well, for failing to realize that sooner."

The redhead shook her head. "You don't have to apologize to me," She sighed. "I mean, yeah, you did some really stupid things, but...people make mistakes. It's okay to make mistakes."

The blonde smiled again, and this time it was more earnest. "If you believe that, then I hope you can find it within yourself to forgive Kiku," She said. "Like me, she had only the best of intentions."

"I don't know if I can do that, Mami," Kyouko said, tracing an invisible pattern on the table. "The things she's done are way beyond anything you have, and on top of that, they were _intentional_. She put you through a lot of pain to make you think she was dead. And that put me through a lot of pain, too. I don't know if I can stop thinking that whenever I see her face."

Mami lowered her head, apparently consumed by those words. Kyouko thought for a moment that she had won the argument, which would have been rare in itself, but the blonde preempted her by looking up again.

"I don't think we'll ever stop thinking about it, to be honest," She said, meeting the redhead's eyes squarely. "Not even me. But I've decided that our relationship is worth bearing that burden."

Kyouko started back at the musket wielder for a moment, briefly hoping that she would win the silent warring of wills, but smiled when she found her efforts fruitless. When Mami was dead set on something, it was hard to waver her resolve.

"Whatever you say, Mami," She sighed at last, letting her hand lay flat on the table. "If it's your choice, I'll do my best to follow it."

Another earnest smile, and for a moment it was worth it. "Thank you."

"Mmm."

They stayed together like that for a while, watching the fathomless night sink around them through the shattered windows. To Kyouko it felt like she were shedding a weight she had been carrying around with her all this time, but in the infinite darkness beyond the glass she saw only gravity.

She wondered how heavy she was going to be, once this was all over.

"So...you and Homura, huh?" Mami said suddenly, smiling a little more mischievously this time. It was a poor attempt at provoking the redhead, but Kyouko was willing to fall for the bait.

She rolled her eyes, resting her chin in her palm. "Well...yeah, I guess."

"Can't say I ever saw it coming."

"Me neither, to be quite honest." Kyouko shrugged. "The idea kind of entered my head a while ago, but I didn't expect anything to come of it."

"Hmm..." Mami paused, seeming to roll the idea of her two juniors in a relationship together. "Love doesn't seem to be part of Akemi-san's expertise," She admitted. "Or yours," She added after a moment's consideration.

It probably wasn't an intentional jibe, but Kyouko blushed at the blonde's choice of words. "Well, I wouldn't call it 'love' just yet..."

Mami snickered at the sight of a subdued Kyouko, a rare one indeed. "Sorry, it was a slip of the tongue. You're right to not be frivolous with expressions like that, though. It's a strong sign."

"Oh, like you're that experienced."

The blonde laughed. "I guess you got me there." Then she sighed. "It seems like I'll be dethroned as number one in your eyes soon?"

Kyouko rolled her eyes, refusing to make eye contact. "I don't think that way."

"Oh, yes you do."

"Do not!"

It was hard to properly detail the rest of their conversation that night, but it could be generally surmised as something out of the ordinary. How foreign that word tasted on Kyouko's tongue now. Ordinary. But that was what it was, just ordinary, a for just a little while she was able to take Homura's advice to heart.

* * *

><p>Three hours later, Homura was running one of her routine checks on her firearms in the living room of the apartment, spreading the lovingly worn guns across the hardwood floor. She sat cross legged in the middle of this modern spiderweb, quietly checking and double checking every safety catch and chamber. She supposed that most people wouldn't go to such lengths, but human tools had a tendency of malfunctioning when magic entered a fight. She wanted to be sure.<p>

"Hey," Said a familiar voice behind her, and Kyouko was walking through the web of weapons to sit beside her on the floor. They nestled against each other almost naturally now, and Homura closed her eyes as her heartbeat slowed into a deep lull, comforted by the proximity of her partner. It made her want to say all those superficial things that she always condemned.

"You messed up the order," She complained instead, gesturing at the expanding lines of guns that had been neatly arranged, but were not skewed erratically by Kyouko's passing.

"It's not like you can't put them back," The redhead said, snorting. In fact, the time traveler was already doing so, leaning over Kyouko's lap to straighten the web. The older girl had to resist the urge to tickle Homura when she was in such a vulnerable position.

"Done talking to Mami?" The raven haired girl asked over her shoulder, breaking her train of thought. The redhead thought back to the conversation she had had with the blonde.

"Yeah. It went well," She said. "Did you and Kiku finish drawing out those battle strategies?"

Homura paused.

"There were no battle strategies, you idiot," She sighed.

"...Oh," Kyouko said dumbly, flushing slightly at her mistake. "Thanks for that."

"Mmm."

"Where is she, anyway?"

"Kiku? On the rooftop, keeping watch," Homura said, waving her hand at the ceiling. "She finished cleansing her soul first, so I had her take up post. The Acolytes might decide to go on the offensive at any moment."

Kyouko didn't reply, accepting the information wordlessly. She raised her head and looked down the hall instead, where Mami was discreetly standing in the bathroom, repeatedly summoning and dismissing a single musket in her hand.

"What is she doing?" Homura asked without looking up.

"Practicing," Kyouko answered, continuing to watch as Mami moved on to summoning two muskets at once. "It's...been a while for her, after all. She doesn't want to go into the fight rusty."

Homura didn't respond immediately, and Kyouko could tell she was about to say something contradictory.

"Can we trust her in this battle, Kyouko?" She said at last, counting the bullets into her final pistol and sliding the magazine shut. She set the weapon down and started to clean up, opening a storage portal and sliding the guns inside.

"We're going to need all the help we can get," The redhead replied, albeit slowly. "Besides, Kiku would be dead now if not for her."

Homura just sighed. "You know what I mean," She said. "Mami was always against fighting other girls. I am not trying to be biased, but I need to know that she won't be a burden."

"Mami promised me that she wouldn't screw up again," Kyouko countered, before realizing that that wouldn't be enough to satisfy Homura. "Trust me," She added, thinking back to what Mami had told her.

Homura closed her storage portal and thought about it. "...Fine," She said. "I trust your judgement. Though if things go according to plan, it won't matter."

"Ah, yes, the 'plan'," Kyouko agreed, wielding air quotes. "What was it again?"

"An aerial approach, with Kiku disguising our signature as much as possible," Homura replied. "It's far from a surefire plan, but we have to try-"

[_Guys, I think you should get up here. Now,_] Kiku interrupted them, the urgency evident in her tone.

Homura switched topics immediately. [_What's going on?_]

[_The Acolytes. They're on their way._]

* * *

><p>"How close are they?" Homura demanded as she leapt onto the rooftop, jogging to stand by the illusionist's side. The night sky was now complete above them, and a sliding wind cut through her clothes. Kyouko and Mami joined them a moment later, running to catch up.<p>

"See for yourself," Kiku said simply, pointing up at the hill that loomed over them.

Homura looked.

What she saw didn't make sense. The figures of three girls in the distance were obvious to make out, but there was one minute detail that made the sight unordinary.

"They're walking," Mami said in surprise, crossing her arms. She was already in combat form, and after a moment's consideration Homura decided to transform as well. Kyouko quickly followed suit, her form burning for a moment before being replaced by her signature spear.

"Do you think they're going to try and talk it out?" Kiku speculated.

Kyouko narrowed her eyes. "Well, they _are_ waving the white flag,_" _She said.

The redhead was surprisingly right. Behind the three silhouettes, fluttering back and forth like an ethereal sentinel of the night, was a diminutive pale white flag. It was almost laughable in how out of place it appeared on the cold knoll, but it delivered its message clearly.

Negotiations.

"I don't believe this," Mami said in a warning tone, summoning a musket. "This has to be some kind of trap."

"Wait," Homura urged her, holding an arm out, though she had admittedly drawn a pistol of her own already. "We don't know what they have to say. Not to mention that we have now lost the element of surprise; fighting now will put us at a disadvantage."

Mami gritted her teeth but consented, letting her musket dissipate, though she kept her magic running hot. Homura sheathed her own weapon and stood at the ready, crossing her arms as she awaited the envoy.

The three girls had halved the distance between them by now, close enough to make out the blurry outlines of their faces. Closing her eyes, Homura reopened them as the same glowing light appeared in her irises. Manually adjusting her pupils, she zoomed in on the approaching group.

"I see Famira," She said softly, subconsciously flexing her wings when they weren't even there. "Thalia is with her."

Kyouko growled.

"And the third?" Mami asked almost breathlessly, watching the ghostly white flag grow larger and larger against the backdrop of the hill.

"I don't know her," Homura admitted, "But it must be the one Mishki mentioned, Kagami. Or it could be the fourth Acolyte. There's no way to tell. Either way, I sense powerful magic. Kyouko, keep a shield at the ready. Be prepared to activate it at any moment."

"Got it."

She turned back to watch the Acolytes approach. They were almost to the bottom of the knoll by now, and were approaching the solitary line of buildings that marked the edge of the territory. Just a little further and they would be close enough to leap onto-

Something incredibly painful seized her mind at that very moment, making her cry out in shock and collapse to the ground. Kyouko shouted her name and rushed forward to catch her, but Homura didn't sense any of it, all the reception in her brain consumed by a vision.

_She saw the four of them, together, battling in the Church._

_She saw blood spray out from her side, and turned just in time to see Kyouko collapse._

_Too late to save her, but fast enough to watch the light fade from her eyes._

_A single, divine voice, one that was all too familiar._

_Don't let this happen, Homura._

[_Madoka?_]

"Homura. Homura!" The time traveler's eyes flew open as abruptly as they had closed, focusing in on the redhead who was shaking her violently. "Goddammit, get a grip! What happened?"

"I-" Homura found herself short on breath and stopped to suck in a breath. "I don't know. It's okay, I'm fine." She tried to prove her point by standing up on her own, but Kyouko was obviously not convinced, the redhead eyeing her nervously.

[_It was a vision. Madoka,_] Homura told her privately. Mami and Kiku just watched her with worried expressions, and she knew that neither of them would understand an explanation if they got it. Best to remain silent. "I just got dizzy for a second," She assured them, and they simply nodded, though they didn't seem very convinced either.

[_A vision? Why now? What happened in it?_] Kyouko demanded. Meanwhile, the Acolytes had reached the base of the building across the street from them. They took on their magical forms one by one, flexing their knees and leaping atop the building before letting their powers dissipate.

[_I don't know. I can't explain it right now,_] Homura said, keeping her eyes fixed on their foes. [_But you died in that vision._]

Kyouko stiffened.

The Acolytes approached the edge of their building, and the Mitakihara Four followed suit, closing the distance between them so that only the width of a street separated their two worlds. Homura's eyes fell to the one in the middle. A childish face, small, sharp eyes. She looked infinitely younger and smaller when flanked by the intimidating Thalia and the uncaring Famira, but that just made Homura overestimate her that much more. There was a brooding cynicism behind that young appearance, a sort of forced enthusiasm that spoke of extreme cunning.

[_This time, we take them together,_] Homura murmured to the other three, who nodded incrementally. [_If it comes to it,_] She added.

The young Acolyte took another step forward, distinguishing herself from her companions. "It is very nice to meet you," She called over the abyss between them, bending herself into a deep bow that seemed totally uncalled for. "I am Kagami Reshura, the second Acolyte."

Her voice was rich and adult, in complete contrast to her childish demeanor, and it reflected an obvious intelligence. She looked like she could be Homura's little sister, but she spoke like the time traveler's late grandmother.

"Likewise," Homura replied, speaking before Kyouko yell something rude and ruin these pre-dubbed "negotiations." "I imagine you aren't here just to fight us?" She asked, crossing her arms and narrowing her violet irises.

"Straight to the point...as expected of you, Akemi-san," Kagami said, offering her a bitter smile. "Your reputation precedes you."

"I have no reputation," Homura said bluntly, not one for useless niceties.

Her eyes shifted a bit to the left, and she found that Thalia was caught in a glaring contest with Kyouko. The two fierce girls were drilling visionary holes into each other, their silent battle so profoundly intense that Homura expected one of them to start firing lasers from their eye sockets at any moment. To her right, Mami and Kiku were both baring their teeth at Famira, though the ever cool Acolyte simply stared passively back.

"If you insist," Kagami allowed, closing her eyes. She wore nothing but a straight black coat and a matching skirt, but she somehow looked more menacing and evil than anyone Homura had had to misfortune of meeting.

"You know, Homura, I think they're really just here to tangle with us," Kyouko almost snarled, twirling her spear and stabbing it into the roof before her. Thalia cracked her knuckles in response, both girls showing their fangs. Famira narrowed her eyes and swept her long cape aside, revealing the library of daggers and swords she had stored on her body. Seeing the weapons made Homura's trigger finger itch, and she felt rather than saw Mami prepare to summon yet another musket.

Kagami laughed at the mounting hostilities in the air and spread her arms wide, forcing the other two Acolytes back a step. "It seems that the two of us were never destined to get along," She said, showing her own teeth. She was the smallest person there, yet she commanded the most presence. Homura wondered where she had obtained such significant gravity. "I will make my purpose clear, Akemi-san. The Acolytes have a deal for you."

"We don't negotiate with murderers," Kyouko spat, but Homura surprised her by seizing the redhead's wrist.

"Wait," She intoned softly. "Let them speak."

[_Homura-_]

[_Shut up. Just listen to me._]

Kagami smiled bemusedly at their poorly veiled exchange. "It seems even lovers can quarrel," She remarked unnecessarily, and this time even Homura had to keep her anger in check. "Long story short, we aren't really interested in anyone else here but you, Akemi-san."

Homura pursed her lips. "Elaborate."

"We have strong reason to be interested in your power," Kagami said, almost licking her lips in anticipation. There was a wild light in her eyes, a mature lust that exceeded the constraints of her childish body. "Which brings us back to the deal. Leave your friends behind and follow us back to the Church, and we'll let them walk out of here alive."

"Like hell!" Kyouko snarled without hesitation, yanking her spear out of the dirt and waving it before her. "What makes you think I won't come over there and kick your ass?"

"Statistics," The Acolyte replied cooly, giving the redhead a belittling smile.

"Clairvoyance," She added after a moment's thought.

_Clairvoyance. _Homura felt her blood run cold. Was this the precursor to her vision? Madoka had given her glimpses of the future in the past, just fleeting images, and they hadn't always come true. It had become apparent over time that certain conditions had to be met for the visions to take place, and a great majority of them were easily circumvented, given the opportunity.

If the condition for this particular vision's fruition was for Kyouko to come with her into the Church, she could not allow that to happen.

"We don't expect you to simply trust us, of course," Kagami continued, slipping her hand out of her pocket and reaching for a little stone perched on her finger. Thalia and Famira did the same, and Homura's eyes widened when the three Acolytes held their Soul Gems out before them, over the abyss.

"When Akemi-san joins us on this building, we will give you possession of our Soul Gems," Kagami proclaimed, tilting the stone over in the light to prove its authenticity. Homura felt sick to the stomach; the Gem was a pure, straight black, with no personality. "If anything happens to her while she is with us, you may crush the stones to stop us. It won't kill us, of course, but it will buy you more than enough time to escape. After she returns, we will leave the district."

Homura inhaled sharply. The gears in her shield whirred and clicked as her mind went into overdrive, attempting to discern what the Acolytes could possibly gain from doing this. How badly did they want her to go into the Church alone? Everything logical in her body was screaming at her that this was a trap, that this deal was tilted much too far in their own favor to be genuine. This was too far removed from the original plan. She wouldn't be able to improvise in time if something were to go wrong.

She opened her mouth, ready to reject the deal.

But then she stopped. Because in that moment, her mind had decided to play devil's advocate; after all, there _was_ a potential positive to accepting. If she consented to the deal, she would enter the Church alone, leaving Kyouko and the others behind. It would prevent the conditions of her vision from being met, and Kyouko would live.

Though of course, there was no guarantee that she herself would survive.

It was stupid that she was even thinking about it, and she knew it. But the idea of losing Kyouko, someone she actually cared about, was even more repulsive. In a perfect world, the both of them would emerge from this battle alive; but Homura's heart told her that this was very unlikely.

Only one of them would survive to mourn the other's loss, and it was in her hands to decide who.

Homura supposed that, mere months ago, she would have chosen to save her own life without any hesitation. She had only existed to fight for Madoka, back then. As long as she lived to fulfill that mandate, nothing else mattered. But she lived for other people now. She lived for Kyouko too. Hell, she even lived for Mami and Kiku, and the safety of the people around her. Throwing that all away, grinding all her relationships into the dust for the sake of something as selfish as "survival instinct" was a horror in itself.

So here she stood, with a choice. Not life or death, but death and death. Biting her lip, Homura wondered what Kyouko would think of her decision.

She supposed that either way, the redhead was going to be hideously angry.

Mami scoffed. "What's to stop us from simply crushing the Gems the moment we have them? I'm sorry, Reshura-san, but I do not believe any of you are that stupid."

Kagami smiled and reached back into her back pocket, pulling out a sleek pistol. Homura absentmindedly classified it as an un-silenced Grach, the safety already pulled back.

"I'll be holding this against the back of her head the whole time," She said, waving the gun playfully in the air. "Don't worry."

Mami frowned, obviously put off by the sight of the pistol. "What of the issue of distance? You would surely collapse after getting so far from your own soul."

But the Acolyte shook her head. "Things have changed for us, Tomoe-san," She said, turning the Grach over and over in her hands. It was dizzying. "With all the latent potential we have unlocked with our Seeds, distance is no longer a problem. You need not worry about us so much."

It was then that Homura remembered the famed stash of Grief Seeds, the dozens of lives that had been lost in the quest to control it, and how all of this had started in the first place.

[_Think we can take them in a straight fight?_] Mami asked Homura privately, the time traveler's ears twitching in response.

[_I...no,_] She said, speaking frankly.

[_I see..._] The blonde's eyes flitted to the side. [_Kyouko is too unbalanced right now to fight effectively. Just seeing Thalia is setting her off kilter. Surely you can feel it too._]

Of course she could. The redhead's internal magic was in total chaos; Homura sense only hatred, anger, and the urge to destroy. All emotions that ultimately led to despair. If Kyouko discharged magic in excess now, she wouldn't last long.

[_Just...let's just say we accept this deal,_] Mami speculated. [_Could you surprise them at some point, once they let their guard down?_]

[_Surprise them, yes,_] Homura replied, pursing her lips.

[_Beat, them...no._] Not all of them.

[_Then I take it we are going to refuse?_]

[_No._]

Mami blinked.

Homura didn't know if what she was about to do was the right decision. In fact, she was probably screwing up big time. But for what felt like the first time in her life, she was being driven by something other than careful deliberation. It was passion. It was desire. It was the fear of seeing her loved one fall before her eyes. If this was what she had to do to protect Kyouko, then so be it. She would do it over and over again a thousand times if she had to.

She had done that for another person before, after all.

[_Mami, I believe that there are some moments where you must trust other people,_] Homura said suddenly, drawing the blonde's attention to her. Their verbal silence was starting to be noticed; Kagami shifted impatiently, arm still outstretched, and Kiku was giving them weird looks. [_I don't do it often, but there are instances where faith must be placed in face of the inevitable. I think this is one of those times._]

Mami turned and looked at her, those golden irises filled with the intelligence and wisdom that Homura had grown accustomed to, and had actually missed quite dearly.

[_What are you asking of me?_]

Homura reached out and gently grasped Kyouko's wrist, drawing a confused look from the redhead.

[_I'm asking you to trust me._]

Kagami was ready to start screaming at them now. Mami smiled knowingly and dipped her head in acceptance.

[_I suppose that is the least I could do for you._]

"Choose, Akemi Homura!" Kagami called out from the facing rooftop, curling her fist around her black Soul Gem and waving it in the air, beside the Grach. She seemed to be unnerved by their prolonged silence. "The world waits for no one!"

[_When I answer her, I'll need you to restrain Kyouko,_] Homura said quietly.

[_Are you sure?_]

[_This is all for her own good._]

[_Very well._]

"She obviously refuses!" Kyouko roared in response, but the Acolytes simply ignored her. Kagami continued to drill her eyes into the time traveler, a knowing light dancing in her eyes, a flame that told them that she knew the future, that she knew Homura's decision before she had even finished thinking about it.

"Shut up, you liar!" Thalia bellowed back.

"I'm going to skin your bloody-"

"I accept."

Kyouko cut her own sentence off to turn and stare at Homura. "What?"

Homura grasped the redhead by the shoulders and placed a fleeting kiss on her cheek. "I'm sorry, Kyouko."

Before the redhead could register the terrible meaning of those words, Homura shoved her away, the spear wielder stumbling back several steps. Half a second later, Mami's yellow ribbons shot out from her sleeves, snaking through the air and enveloping themselves around Kyouko's form. They took tight in mere milliseconds, and soon the girl was tied up like a mummy.

"What the fu - Mami! What are you doing!" Kyouko screamed, beginning to struggle violently. The blonde flinched when Kyouko started to discharge raw bolts of magical energy in an attempt to tear through the bonds, and was forced to tighten her hold.

Meanwhile, Homura ran past a stunned Kiku and leapt across the abyss, landing squarely on the opposite rooftop. Kagami laughed in delight and tossed all three of the Soul Gems at Kiku, who caught them awkwardly.

"It seems you aren't a complete fool, Akemi-san," She said in a congratulatory manner. "You made the wise decision."

"I don't want your damn opinion," Homura hissed back, letting her magic dissipate into nothing. "Let's just get this over with."

Kagami smiled and leapt off the building, gesturing for her to follow. Thalia and Famira quickly trailed the illusionist, but Homura took a moment to look back.

Mami was still struggling to keep Kyouko restrained, her heels literally digging into the ground as crimson bolts of energy sparked off the redhead's form, arcing into the sky like reverse lightning. Kiku was simply staring back at her, the Soul Gems in her hands nestled together like a meager offering.

Gritting her teeth, Homura turned away and leapt off the building. If it was to protect Kyouko, she could deal with the consequences later.

"Kiku!" Mami yelled over her shoulder, as Homura's shadow disappeared from sight. "Make sure those Gems are authentic!"

"Huh?" Kiku blinked, startled from her thoughts. "Oh!" She looked down at the stones gathered in her palms, probing them cautiously. A definite magical power emanated from them, and she could subconsciously link each one back to the Acolytes they had just met.

"Yes," She murmured in response, still somewhat stunned by the strength of Homura's resolve. "I do believe these are the real thing..."

* * *

><p>"Impossible!"<p>

Seiyaku flinched in irritation as a fist struck the table they were sitting at, rattling the fragile surface. The owner of said fist was seething at her, but she did her best to remain calm and professional, understanding that the angrier her opponent got, the more reasonable her own argument would seem.

They were all sitting in a virtually empty restaurant at the edge of Kazamino, a place that Mishki had specifically recommended for this particular conversation. The guide had simply had a word with the bartender and told him not to ask any questions about anything he heard here today, and the man had simply nodded in acceptance and taken his break in the kitchen.

Seiyaku knew they didn't have much time to settle this argument. She had climbed atop a tall spire before coming to this restaurant, and she had been able to just barely make out the shadow of the Radix in the distance, along with the thousands of demons it had in tow. She had heard all the horror stories about Radixes already, but seeing that many demons in one place made her feel more than a little scared. Hunting was often scarce in Kazamino. She didn't know if any of them would be able to handle such a large horde.

She had checked her internal timer then. Just under twenty two hours left before impact. They had to hurry.

She clambered down from the spire and ran to catch up with the others.

Despite the lack of other visitors, the restaurant was still packed; they had to stuff nearly seventy girls in here, after all. Seiyaku was still surprised that so many were willing to work together. She had always known that not all of them wanted to be hostile by nature, but actually seeing the truth was something else in itself.

Not all of them were in agreement, however, and that was why she was sitting here.

"You told us yourself how dangerous this Radix is," said the owner of the fist, a faction leader whose name she did not know, though she had recently taken to calling her "Griper." All seventy of the girls she had managed to convince were crowded around the one table the two of them occupied, and it was awfully suffocating. "Even Mishki-san can vouch for how dangerous it is. Do you realize how unreasonable this idea of yours is?"

"Of course I do!" Seiyaku shouted, rising to her feet and slamming the table herself. All the girls surrounding them collectively drew back. "But do you also realize how unreasonable it is to leave Homura and the others on their own like that? If you think the Radix is so dangerous, surely you cannot expect the four of them to defeat both it and the Acolytes themselves!"

"Pah!" Griper crossed her arms and looked off to the side. "I appreciate it, but I don't even know these people you're talking about! You can't expect me to risk my life for some noble purpose. No, me and my faction are getting the hell out of here!"

To Seiyaku's dismay, she saw several of the girls around them nodding in agreement. This was to be expected, of course. They were all being driven by fear. Had she really expected to return to the Church with a full blown army at her back, waving the flag of the hero?

"Hold on," said another voice, a girl that Seiyaku had never introduced herself to. "Things might be alright for a while if we run, but what happens after the Radix is done feasting on the Church's magic? Are we just going to run again? Fleeing now just seems like prolonging the issue if you ask me."

"Precisely!" Seiyaku said, feeling relieved. So people _did_ agree with her. "You can only run for so long. Eventually you'll have to face this monster!"

"If you want to die so bad, you can go kill it yourself!" Yelled another girl from the back of the crowd.

"You're just a coward!" Someone else bellowed back.

"Now listen here, you!-"

"Hey! Everyone shut the hell up!" Mishki yelled as everyone exploded into incoherent arguments, pounding on the table with her fist. Seiyaku was starting to feel really sorry for that table. "If we're going to have this argument, it's going to be calm and orderly. We gain nothing from chaos!"

Exhaling through her nose, Seiyaku leaned back in her seat as another girl began to share her opinion. She didn't know if she was going to win this battle or not. Privately, she hoped that the Mitakihara Four were having better luck than she was.

_How are things going over there, Homura?_

* * *

><p>"So why is your leader so interested in just me, again?" Homura asked as the four of them trudged their way up the hill, the Acolytes flanking her on all sides like some kind of royal guard. Except Homura knew they weren't trying to protect her.<p>

The knoll seemed smaller than it actually was from a distance, and now that she was actually scaling it, she saw that it was quite a large hill. Only the tips of the Church's spires were visible beyond the crest, and for many yards in either direction it was nothing but cold, crunchy, brittle grass. The moonlight stroked every last blade and chunk of dirt, giving the world a silver hue that intensified as she progressed up the hill, slowly closing the distance between herself and the heavens. She wondered if the Church had been purposefully built on the highest spot in Kazamino, as if the cathedral were desperately trying to reach God with its twisting towers.

It didn't seem to have succeeded, yet.

"Tayoshi has her own reasons to be interested in you," Kagami replied from in front of her, the childish Acolyte leading the rest of them up the hill. "All of which she shall explain, in due time."

"I would still like a general idea," Homura admitted, clasping her hands behind her back as she walked.

The illusionist smiled back at her.

"Well...let's just say she needs you, in her own way."

Homura blinked.

"Come on, walk," Thalia sighed, sounding almost bored as she prodded the back of Homura's head with the Grach. She had to resist flinching when she felt the cool kiss of the gun's barrel against her spine, and wordlessly resumed her pace.

"I'm disappointed, you know," The tank said from behind her, the girl's rasping voice grating against Homura's ears. "I expected you to refuse our offer. Which would have worked fine for me, because I was looking forward to crushing your pretty girlfriend's skull."

"Don't provoke her, Thalia," Famira sighed, as Homura instinctively clenched her fists, tiny sparks of purple magic sizzling between her fingers.

The tank simply shrugged. "It's the truth. I'm just speaking the truth."

"Sometimes hearing the truth isn't the best feeling," Kagami said from ahead of them, pausing to let them catch up. The Acolyte looked coldly at Homura. "I wonder how you'll take the truth, once you hear it."

Homura just stared defiantly back.

Kagami turned away and inhaled deeply as the other three caught up to her, spreading her arms wide once again. "I can still smell it in the air," She sighed, closing her eyes. "The despair of the dead. You've heard about it, I'm sure. The dozens who died on this very hill, all of them greedy for the power that we had rightfully fought for." She shook her head, like a disappointed mother. "None of them understood. We aren't actually that evil, you know. We just do evil things. It is all for a good cause."

"Could have had me fooled," Homura said blandly, stopping when she came level with the smaller girl. But Thalia poked her with the Grach again, and she resumed walking.

Kagami smirked up at Homura as she walked past her. "Tayoshi and I have been watching you for a very long time, Akemi-san. And you know what? You think you're so smart. You think you understand _everything_, just because you've seen so much. I think it would do for you to understand that no matter how much you see, there will always be something that can surprise you."

Homura chose not to respond to that particular jab, wordlessly climbing further up the hill without looking back. The half frozen blades of moon grass cracked beneath her feet, but to her the pale stalks resembled the bones of those who had died here.

Kagami just laughed, a maniacal sound. "Which is not to say you are not special, of course!" She amended, slipping her hands into her pockets and climbing up after them. "Tayoshi asked specifically for _you._ After killing so many, and after maiming so many more, she asked just for you. She believes that you are the answer to her problem, Akemi-san. That is a great honor on its own."

Homura didn't know why, but being the center of Tayoshi's attention didn't seem like a very good thing.

They finally reached the crest of the hill, and Homura could now see the facade of the Sakura Church in all its glory. She supposed that in the past, a long stone road would have extended from the front door all the way down to the base of the hill, but now the granite walkway stopped short only ten yards from the entrance. Many of the stained glass windows were broken and shattered, and various chips and pieces of infrastructure were missing. The entire cathedral was engulfed in its own miasma; yes, that was the word. Miasma. It was a den for demons. A place where evil fostered its children.

It was the Acolyte's home.

It was Kyouko's home.

"How's our vantage point, Thalia?" Kagami asked, smiling confidently.

"We should be in the clear," The girl answered.

"Mmm," The illusionist said, nodding at Famira.

Homura turned around in suspicion just in time to take the girl's tomahawk in her gut.

"Gyuh-" She choked, a small string of blood spewing out with the grunt. Famira's expression remained impassive as she yanked the weapon out of Homura's body and used it to smash the time traveler across the temple, and the world spun in circles around them.

When Homura's blurred vision registered something, she was already on the floor, the Acolytes kneeling over her. Her magic was already at work to heal her body, but it wasn't fast enough. Her head was throbbing. The blackness...it was crushing...

As her eyes rolled back in her head, Homura's last thought was that Kyouko was going to kill her.

* * *

><p>"I'm going to kill you, Mami," Kyouko grumbled.<p>

"Oh, don't be like that," The blonde replied.

"I'm serious."

The older girl smiled sadly. "Yeah, I know."

They were sitting together back in the apartment room, with Mami staring longingly out the window. Or at least, she was the one doing the sitting. Kyouko was still wrapped up like a literal mummy, the redhead laying propped against the wall like a sack of potatoes.

It had been hell to subdue Kyouko down to a reasonable level. The redhead had gone absolutely berserk after Homura pulled her little stunt, thrashing both physically and magically while swearing so profusely that Mami felt like she had expanded her vocabulary just by being present. The spear wielder had run out of magic quickly, however, and soon after muscular fatigue set in. It had been easy to safely relocate downstairs afterwards, and now the redhead sat in a brooding cloud of hatred, with only Mami and Kiku there to make sure she didn't escape.

"You don't even know why Homura is doing this," Kyouko snarled, struggling against her bonds once again, but it was useless without the advent of magic. "You don't know anything!"

"No, I don't," Mami admitted, clasping her hands together and looking down at them. "But she asked me to trust her."

Kyouko was about to spit back that such an excuse was bull, but realized how hypocritical that would be and kept silent instead.

"You talk as if you know what this is all about," Kiku said from her seat on the bed, the three Soul Gems laid out carefully on the table beside her. She had a hammer she had dug up laying there too, in the event that it become necessary to destroy the stones.

"I do," Kyouko said darkly, turning her angry gaze on the brunette. Kiku found herself more than a little intimidated, even if she knew the redhead's anger was not directed towards her. "She had a vision. A vision where I die, and apparently keeping me away from the Church is supposed to preempt that."

"A vision?" Mami asked, frowning. "What do you mean?"

"She gets visions from God sometimes," Kyouko explained impatiently. Then she realized how confusing that sounded, and amended herself. "Nevermind how she knows, she just _does_. Sometimes the visions come true, but if appropriate measures are taken they can be prevented. And that's why I'm sitting here like you dug me up from a fucking Egyptian tomb."

Mami sighed. "As impossible as that sounds, it just makes me want to keep you here even more," She said. "If taking you to the Church means killing you, I think Homura made the right choice."

"Sure, I might live," Kyouko spat back hideously, "But who's to say she will too?"

"I believe in Akemi-san's ability, and her judgement," Mami replied readily, though her doubt was also evident. "Besides, we have their Soul Gems, for crying out loud. If they so much as touch her, we can collapse them in one fell swoop."

"What if she's dead already?" The redhead said desperately, the emotion evident in her voice. "What are you going to do then?"

"I'm tracking her magical signature. She's fine," The blonde assured her. It hurt Mami to do this, but she knew that it was probably for the best. If Homura was to be trusted, this was the right choice.

Kyouko swore quietly under her breath, and she fell abruptly silent. A minute later, it occurred to Mami that the girl was quietly crying.

"Kyouko?" She said incredulously, getting up and kneeling beside the redhead. It had been ages since she had seen Kyouko cry. Actually, she had _never_ seen Kyouko cry. The sight was so foreign that it was visceral. Reaching out, she took the girl's head in her hands, not knowing what else she was supposed to do.

"I don't want to lose her, Mami," Kyouko said bitterly, squeezing her eyes shut. "She's almost all I've got. I can't lose her."

"Shh. It's okay. She'll be fine," Mami murmured, stroking the girl's crimson locks. Unlike Homura, she was alright with making false promises. But only because she couldn't accept the worst possible outcome.

"Goddammit," Kyouko seethed, clenching her teeth. "Goddammit goddammit goddammit..." Kiku could only watch the two of them solemnly, feeling overwhelmed herself.

Mami had just closed her eyes when an alarm went off in her head.

Gasping, she tore herself away from Kyouko and ran back to the window, where she could see the solitary outline of the Church. Her heart rate spiked as her magical senses blared, signaling to her that Homura's magical signature had just suffered a massive drop in quality.

"Mami?" Kyouko asked, her voice cracking from her recent tears.

"Kiku, crush the stones!" Mami yelled, as the illusionist seized the hammer. Three swift strokes resulted in three shattered Gems, as the blonde turned to observe the aftermath.

Nothing. No massive output of energy, no rush as the souls contained within the gems were claimed by the Law of Cycles. The most acute sense of dread froze Mami's heart over.

Kiku was staring dumbly at the shards of rock in her hands, her fingers shaking in shock.

"Fake," She whispered. "They're fake. But that's impossible. I verified..."

_The first is a kind of illusionist like Saki, who people call Kagami..._

No. No, that would be too cruel. But it was the only explanation, wasn't it? It was the only answer.

She had never imagined magic powerful enough to imitate the nature of a Soul Gem.

"We've been fooled," Kiku whispered, the sparkling shards of stone sliding off her palms and clattering onto the sheets.

Mami held back a particularly loud curse and pulled out her own Soul Gem, transforming in a matter of seconds. "I'm going after her," She growled, turning yanking the window open.

Kyouko started to struggle against her ties again. "I'm coming with you!"

"No," Mami said firmly. "You stay here. Kiku, you have no combat ability, so I want you to watch Kyouko. Don't let her anywhere near that cathedral!"

* * *

><p>Consciousness.<p>

Homura thought that she might be dreaming at first, because when she opened her eyes she was met only with blackness. A fleeting dream about the darkness. How fitting.

As her eyes adjusted, however, it became apparent that this was not a waking dream, but a living nightmare.

Her head was killing her. Her stomach still throbbed, but the bleeding seemed to have stopped, though it was difficult to tell with her blood soaked clothes. Her vision swam as her head hung like it weight twice as much as usual, just barely able to distinguish the hardwood floor beneath her.

Hardwood. So she was indoors.

Mustering her strength, Homura looked up.

She was in a basement of some sort, maybe a wine cellar, though there were no drinks to speak of. Almost everything around her was pitch black, except the faint outlines of the floor, and a bright square of light above her that indicated the cracks in some kind of door. An exit, then. Freedom.

Opening her mouth and groaning as her head throbbed yet again, she looked to her right to get her bearings.

The tip of her nose collided with a dead body.

Gasping soundlessly, Homura jerked backwards from the wide, dead eyes of a girl she did not know, the stranger's limp form slumped against the cold wall right beside her. Hyperventilating softly, she scrambled to put distance between herself and the corpse, stopping when she had put a good three feet between them. She stayed like that for a good minute, chest heaving violently as she tried desperately to calm her hammering heart.

Then morbid curiosity got the best of her, and she decided to look.

Creeping forward slowly in the near complete darkness, Homura leaned inwards just a fraction and waited for her eyes to adjust.

The girl was still unrecognizable. Pale, lifeless eyes stared back at her, and a jaw that had gone slack gave the stranger a permanent frown. She couldn't make out a hair color in the lightless environment, but it was long and unruly.

Homura sat like that for a while, wondering who this girl had been in life and whether Madoka had saved her soul before she suffered too long. She stayed like that until staring at the dead girl's face became too unnerving, and she shuffled backwards a second time.

Her elbow knocked against flesh as a result, but this time the body spoke.

"Ah-is...is someone there?" A tiny voice called out, incredibly meek.

"Yes," Homura whispered back immediately, incredibly relieved to find that she was not alone. "I'm here. Who are you?"

Leaning backwards, she squinted through the darkness at the stranger.

It was Karen, the Sister of Fire.

* * *

><p>"Please, you've got to help me," Karen begged, holding up her hands and showing Homura the shackles that encircled them. "They took Tsukihi, and I don't know what they did with her. She hasn't come back all day...they took my Soul Gem too. Please, I'm so scared..."<p>

Narrowing her eyes, Homura shifted to find that she was similarly restrained. Not so close to freedom after all. Her Soul Gem was gone, too, but it must have been somewhere nearby. She would be just a lifeless husk, otherwise.

"Calm down," She insisted, suppressing her own urge to panic. She could cry about this later. "What happened? How did you get here?"

"I don't know," Karen whimpered, the fear evident in her eyes. How far removed she was from the girl who had tried to kill them earlier. "We were fighting the Acolytes after they intruded on our territory, and we lost. They knocked us both out, and I woke up in here...it's been a whole day, and it's _so dark in here_."

"Right," Homura agreed, taking a deep breath. "Okay, just stay calm. We're going to have to figure a way out of this."

Karen's eyes widened as she nodded vigorously.

Homura was about to close her eyes and hypothesize when light flooded the cellar.

"Gah!" The sudden brightness singed her sensitive eyes, as she flinched away from the source, pressing against the wall. Meanwhile, heavy footsteps thudded across the floor towards them. Her survival instincts were screaming at her to get up and defense herself, but she was chained to the wall, and she was so weak...

The footsteps stopped in front of them, and she heard Karen begin to scream.

"No, please! Leave me alone! Where's Tsukihi? Tsukihi!"

"God, just shut up," A voice growled, followed by a loud snap. Karen's voice abruptly faded away. Homura knew that voice. Whose was it?

"Looking forward to this, Homura?" Thalia smirked down at her, sending a swift kick in her temple.

She fell into the blackness again, and this time she slept for a long time.

* * *

><p>She slipped in and out of consciousness several times after that, and each brief awakening became more ambiguous than the last. She thought she heard yelling one time, and the next it was screaming.<p>

At some point, there were gunshots.

The next time the door opened, Homura was thankfully conscious.

"You look well," Kagami said, striding into the cellar and standing before her.

"...Thanks," Homura rasped, not even bothering to look up.

The illusionist snorted. "You're a bloody fool, Akemi," She said. "I expected more from you, to be honest."

Homura let her head fall to the side, her eyes still too weak to take the light. "That vision was your doing, wasn't it?"

"Of course it was," Kagami said bluntly. "Though to be more accurate, I simply planted the idea in your head. Your imagination and personal bias took care of the rest. Ironic, isn't it? You created your own illusion, not me."

Homura closed her eyes. "And those Soul Gems?"

"Also fake."

She had to laugh. This was about as far from the plan as things could possibly have gotten. "Man...Kyouko's going to kill me."

"Not if we don't kill you first," Kagami corrected her, squatting and pulling something out of her pocket. It was Homura's Soul Gem. Leaning forward, she pressed the stone against the time traveler's skin.

A rush of strength leaked into her limbs when the stone made contact, and Homura took the first real breath she had had in hours. Gasping and coughing for a brief moment, she clutched the Gem to her chest as Kagami rose and stepped back.

"Get up and follow me," The Acolyte said, turning and heading for the door.

"Where are we going?" Homura asked, forcing herself to get on one knee regardless.

The young illusionist turned to look back at her.

"Tayoshi has asked to see you. It is time for you to give your life to her."

* * *

><p><strong>This is probably the longest chapter I've ever published…anyways, I'd really appreciate feedback, as always. Thanks for reading! And sorry for the long absence. I had business with a bitch who goes by the name of "Finals"...<strong>

**~Banshee**


	20. The Truth

Chapter 20: The Truth

Mami knew that her chances of victory were not high. At least three Acolytes would be waiting for her when she scaled the heights of this hill, and she had no one to back her up. Still, she preferred those odds to possibly endangering Kyouko and Kiku.

She internally paused for a moment to wonder if she was angry with Homura for being mistaken. The time traveler's plan had totally fallen apart, after all. The Acolytes had played them all for fools. But she felt no anger, only worry. It wouldn't be justified for her to feel angry. After all, Homura had trusted her, and she had let the girl down on countless occasions.

The ground rushed up to meet her and she arced down from a high leap, and she prepared herself to jump again. No, it wouldn't do to be angry. She had been too blind, too naive to realize it until now, but she admired Homura. She envied the girl's strength, her resolve to push forward at all costs. Mami wondered where she herself would be with that kind of determination, if she had never developed the habit of running away from seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

She wondered if she would have lost Kiku at all, or if they would even be here today.

She blinked, shaking her head violently to dismiss the errant thoughts. Focus on the battle ahead. There would be time to brood later.

Looking up, Mami's irises shone with magical power as she attempted to scope out the front of the Church. She could barely see the entrance over the crest of the knoll, but in just a few more moments-

Two razor thin blades sprang into the air above her, cutting through space with deadly precision, headed straight for her throat.

Balking, Mami slammed her heels into the ground and summoned two muskets, letting her instincts take complete control. Only years of veteran experience allowed her to aim down both sights and open fire on the blades, knocking the deadly projectiles out of the air. The swords veered off to the side and impaled themselves into the moonlight dirt below, handles quivering in the frigid night.

Turning away from the blades and peering back up the hill, Mami saw Famira's pale figure staring down at her. The Acolyte's eyes looked as dead and bored as ever, and her impassive expression did not change as she drew three more blades, raising them so that they glinted in the lunar light.

"So disorganized," Famira sighed. "I hope you die more easily than the other one."

"Not likely," Mami smirked back, already charging her powers.

The blade user narrowed her eyes, as Thalia emerged beside her.

"Not much of a gambler, are you?" The pale girl asked her, arms crossed over her chest. "You really think you can take us both on by yourself?"

Mami pursed her lips as she allowed her muskets to be seen, summoning four of the charged weapons and letting them hover around her waist. It had been a while since she had tasted the heat of battle, and it had been ages since that heat had come from another magical girl. It was time to prove that experience really meant something in their world.

"I can try."

Thalia sneered.

Figuring there wasn't much time to lose, Mami opened fire.

The hammers on all four of her muskets slammed downward in perfect unison, and four rounds rocketed their way towards the two Acolytes. The bullets struck the earth and sent a massive plume of dirt and debris spraying into the air, throwing up a dense curtain between herself and the enemy. As impressive as the display was, however, Mami knew that she had most likely missed.

Flexing her knees, the blonde launched herself in the air, aiming to scale the rest of the hill in a single massive leap. If she were to give herself even a fighting chance, she had to take the high ground.

Famira was actually a bit more proactive than she seemed, however, because she hurled four daggers straight up into the air, piercing through the dust cloud in a blind attempt to stab Mami through. It was through pure misfortune that two of the blades managed to just barely catch the blonde, one nicking her lower thigh and the other tearing through the though hem of her clothes.

Inhaling sharply, Mami twisted in midair to change her flight path, veering off to the side and landing awkwardly on one leg. Before her enemies could recover, she felt gingerly at the cut running along her thigh. It wasn't deep, but the wound still stung whenever she stretched it. She would have to bear with the pain until it healed.

Regaining her footing, she leapt back several meters and readied herself for the second attack, her nerves already singing with battle awareness.

The plume of dirt and settled by now, little chunks of the stuff pattering down like solid rain. Thalia roared in frustration and charged straight for Mami, her thunderous footsteps rattling the very foundations of the hill beneath them. Gritting her teeth, the blonde fired three shots into the Acolyte's chest. All three of the bullets crumpled in on themselves upon making impact. She hadn't really been expecting anything else but that, but it still unnerved her to know that her muskets would do nothing for her against a tank.

Jumping backwards, Mami attempted to leap high into the air to buy herself some time. Thalia quickly predicted this, however, and altered the time of her own jump, seizing the blond around the legs a moment after she left the ground. Mami gasped as they both went crashing back to the earth, and a wild scuffling ensued as each attempted to gain dominance over the other.

It wasn't a fair fight. Thalia's superior strength was the obvious trump card in this contest, and in a few quick seconds Mami found herself pressed face up into the dirt, dozens of torn up blades of grass raining down around them. Coughing in the face of the debris, Mami squinted upwards just in time to barely avoid a punch that would have caved her skull inwards. Thalia's fist sank three inches into the ground instead. Thalia screeched in absolute rage, her deep gray eyes on fire. An acrid spray of saliva struck the side of Mami's face as the Acolyte seized her by the collar and swung using her other hand, and this time the blonde could not dodge.

Literal stars sparked their way across Mami's vision when Thalia's fist connected with her jaw, and she felt something in her face crack. Incredible amounts of pain flooded her internal cortex immediately, frying her nerves and sending her heart into overdrive. Panicking, Mami thrashed until she could get her hands in front of her and summoned a massive storm of ribbons, the golden strings billowing out between herself and Thalia like illuminated smoke.

The Acolyte flinched backwards when she was struck by the cloud of ribbons, giving Mami the space she needed to retaliate. If her guns wouldn't help her, she would choose a cruder method.

Lashing out blindly through the ribbons, she struck Thalia across the face.

She heard the girl audibly gasp, and through the gaps between the golden strings she saw that three shallow cuts had been edged across Thalia's left cheek, the perks of having long nails. The Acolyte's hands left the blonde's color and flew to cover her face instead, and Mami took this chance to kick the girl in the chest and scramble away from her, knowing that having distance worked to her advantage.

Only in Thalia's case, however.

Mami had barely put four feet between them when an errant tomahawk hurtled through the air and stuck itself right between her legs, forcing the blonde to look up. Famira was advancing slowly up the hill towards them, a second axe already in hand. It went flying towards Mami's midsection a moment later, but she quickly summoned a ribbon and seized the weapon out of the air, and with a flick of the wrist, sent it spinning back to its owner.

Famira simply caught the tomahawk, not even batting an eye. Mami showed her teeth and backed up, finding herself trapped between the Acolytes and the Church. Thalia had risen to her feet by now and walked over to stand by Famira's side, thin little beads of blood dripping slowly from her face even as the wound smoothly closed itself. Taking another set of steps back, Mami found her back pressed against the cold wood of the front door. An idea presented itself to her then.

"You aren't even going to leave this hill, Tomoe. You're going to die here, slowly, like the rest of them," Thalia hissed, advancing towards the blonde once again, though Mami noticed she moved more cautiously this time. She didn't understand. If simply striking Thalia was enough to deter her, how had Kyouko lost to her in a fistfight?

"I'm going to take at least one of you with me," Mami replied smoothly, feeling for the handle behind her as she spoke.

Famira rolled her eyes. "Unlikely."

Sneering back in defiance, Mami leaned forward and kicked the door open behind her, leaping back into the welcoming shadows of the main hall. The darkness enveloped her almost immediately, shrouding her within its arms. None of the lights in the main hall had been lit yet, and the darkness was almost palpable.

If she were to win this fight, she would have to take it to an intellectual level.

Thalia and Famira both stormed through the door after her, the heavy wooden slabs slamming back into place, and the meager light around them faded into nothing.

* * *

><p>"Where are we going?" Homura asked.<p>

The Church was much larger than she had previously thought. Only the facade had been visible to her before, and while even that part of the structure was massive on its own, the space within was equally immense. Kagami had been leading her down a series of winding passageways for several minutes now, and they showed no sign of stopping.

"To see Tayoshi," Was the only answer she received.

Frowning, Homura turned to observe the walls around her. Everything was very much "church"; heavy stone slabs piled on top of themselves to form the walls, and dim lights hung from the ceiling to illuminate their passage. Some areas were more brightly lit than others, but the small, tight hallways that they often took were brooding and shadowy, strengthening Homura's impression that the Church was suffering from some kind of disease. The ceilings were high and arcing, with rafters so high that she could not make them out, for the weak lights did not stretch their illuminating fingers that far up.

She had tried, of course, to transform the instant her Soul Gem was returned to her. She had been immediately suspicious that something so important was returned to her that easily, but she soon understood why; she couldn't transform. It was some sort of mental block, something wedged between the recesses of her mind. It was as if she had suddenly forgotten to perform a task she had mastered as a child, as if she had abruptly forgotten how to ride a bike, or hold a pencil.

It left her feeling strangely empty and forlorn.

"Well then," Homura said, looking down between them, "Could you at least tell me what this is for?"

A long, thick length of fabric was wrapped snugly around the width of Homura's neck, the string extending from her body to end in Kagami's grasped hand. It was effective leash, though Homura supposed to the fabric was somehow magically reinforced, to keep it from breaking too easily. She wasn't about to express the humiliation of being led around like some kind of rabid animal, but that wouldn't stop her from at least questioning its purpose.

"If you decided to play your little time tricks, I want to be there to see," Kagami said bluntly, waving her end of the leash around next to her head. It was tied securely to her own wrist as well, linking them together.

"Surely you must know I am not _capable_ of pulling any tricks," Homura replied through gritted teeth. She felt like a criminal.

"We didn't survive this long by being lenient," Kagami said, continuing to lead them both deeper into the recesses of the Church. "You of all people should know that."

They emerged from a brief flight of stairs, and Homura found herself atop a small balcony running alongside the wall, giving her a view of the courtyards below. Peering gingerly over the edge, she was not surprised to find the place empty. Many of the lights were dimly lit, but the pews were barren and choked the dust, the stage worn and unused. It relieved her, somewhat, to find that most of the Church had remained presumably untouched. She wouldn't have wanted Kyouko to make it here and find everything destroyed.

If she ever got here, that was.

"The rest of them aren't just going to sit back and let this happen, you know," Homura pointed out, raising her bound hands in demonstration. "They'll know what you've done. And regardless of all my warnings, they will ignore common sense as they always do, and come after me."

"I do not underestimate the extent of your friends' stupidity," Kagami replied, smiling quietly to herself. "In fact, Mami Tomoe-san has already demonstrated her lack of 'common sense'. Famira and Thalia are subduing her as we speak."

Homura's irises dilated. "You don't mean-"

"Well, none of them are dead yet," Kagami corrected herself, and something told Homura that this was the truth. "Though I wouldn't say the odds are in Mami's favor."

The time traveler gritted her teeth and looked back across the balcony, their footsteps clicking sadly against the stone flooring.

"If they're fighting inside the Church," She said slowly, "Why can't I hear the battle?"

"Gunshots are loud, and I find them irritating," The illusionist sighed, showing Homura her unoccupied hand. The girl's black Soul Gem, her real one, shone dully between her fingers. "I cast an illusion to mute the battle. Though I did persevere for a few minutes."

Homura vaguely remembered the gunshots she had heard while in the cellar, and cursed internally. She had no idea how long ago that was. And now she had no way of knowing if the battle was over or not. Was Mami still stuck in the Church somewhere, fending off both Acolytes at once? Or was she laying facedown in the dirt, bloodied and beaten, as she met a fate worse than death? It was a totally foreign feeling, but suddenly her fingers itched to activate her magic and save the blonde's life. The idea of Mami's death appealed to her a lot less than it had some time ago.

Kagami just laughed, sensing the girl's intentions. "Don't even try. That Soul Gem I gave you is fake. The real one's right here." She patted her pocket. "Close enough to keep you walking, and that's all I need you doing."

They reached another flight of stairs, a much larger one this time, the narrow stone steps spiraling upward in tight formation, and Homura quickly realized that they were making their way up a tower. She thought of the ominous spires she had seen outside and shivered involuntarily.

Kagami motioned for her to begin climbing, and Homura had no choice but to oblige.

* * *

><p>"I'm going to kill you, Kiku," Kyouko growled.<p>

The brunette stared uneasily at her. "Are you really going to do this again?"

The redhead let out a disgusted _tch_ and flopped back against the wall, which was the effective extend of her movements when she was tied up like this. The golden ribbons that snaked around her form remained as tight as ever, and the only positive Kyouko could draw from the fact was that it meant Mami was still alive.

"Shut up," Kyouko growled again, though it was more subdued this time. "All I know is that I'm still tied up, and you aren't doing anything about it."

Kiku averted her gaze, forcing herself to look out the window. "You know I can't do that."

"Because of the vision?"

"Because Mami told me not to."

"What is she, your mother?" Kyouko sneered, struggling futilely against her bonds again. "Suddenly you're miss goody two shoes who can't break the rules?"

Kiku lifted her head and glared back at the redhead. "Do you hate me or something?"

"Oh, I don't know," Kyouko scoffed, turning her head to the side. "But just because Mami's forgiven you for what you've done, doesn't mean that I agree with her."

The illusionist frowned and bowed her head, remembering her lies. "Is that what it's about?"

Kyouko pursed her lips, giving up on trying to tear through magic with brute strength. "I don't understand you, Kiku. You did all those things, told all those lies, and got this far on your own intuition alone...yet here you are, sitting next to a windowsill, just wondering."

"Is that so wrong?" Kiku asked almost vehemently. She was tired of having this conversation. Even if she was the one at fault, she was tired of it. "Can you blame me for wanting to protect her?"

"No," Kyouko snapped back, "But if you care about her so much, why are you sitting around and dutifully waiting for her to come back? Because she promised she would? Mami's a good person, Kiku, but she _sucks_ with promises. She almost never keeps them."

Kiku bit her lip, staring down at her hands. "I know that."

"If you know, how can you possibly be sitting here right now?" The redhead yelled, beginning to thrash yet again. "If you know she's gonna get herself killed, how can you trust her to go in there alone? _How?_"

Kiku flinched as if the words had mass. "I-I-"

"Just admit it," Kyouko sneered. "You have no idea what you're doing. The demons, magical girls, death, sacrifice; you don't understand any of it. How could you? We've all been at this so much longer than you. Yet you keep telling yourself that it's fine, that you'll figure it out. But you know what? That's what I told myself. I convinced myself that I wasn't in over my head. I thought I was doing the right thing when I made my wish. And look at what happened. My fucking family is dead! I never had any idea what was going on, and neither do you. If you're not in control, then _you might as well admit it!_"

Kyouko let out a heavy breath after she finished ranting, and immediately turned towards the wall so that she wouldn't have to see the rest of the room anymore. Kiku hadn't looked up even once as she was being yelled at. The girl probably didn't care what the redhead had to say. She was the one who was tied up, after all, and not her. It had been ridiculous of her to think her words would mean anything.

Closing her eyes to prevent the flow of more bitter tears, Kyouko pressed her forehead against the wall.

The scrape of metal behind her, and she knew a knife had just been drawn.

Turning half around, she moved just in time to feel Kiku lean down and cut through her bonds, severing the golden ribbons in one smooth movement.

The redhead looked up and stared dumbly as the strings tumbled loosely to the floor around her, the brunette looking back at her, pocket knife in hand.

Kiku held out her other arm, and Kyouko instinctively took it.

"If I'm such an idiot," The illusionist said through a thin film of tears, "Then show me what to do."

Reaching up and rubbing the feeling back into her wrists, Kyouko met the girl's eyes and saw nothing but fear. Fear, the all consuming emotion. Part of her wanted to laugh at that, to ridicule the girl for cowering in the face of danger, but she could never really do such a thing. She had been just the same, after all. That feeling of loneliness, of being the lost one...that had been her, and it had been Homura, and Mami too. They had all felt that despair. And they had each, individually, risen themselves out of it.

Maybe it was finally Kiku's turn to achieve that.

Reaching across the desk, Kyouko retrieved her ruby colored Soul Gem, the stone shining vibrantly with energy.

"Follow my lead, then," She said, and light engulfed both of their bodies.

* * *

><p>"TOMOE!"<p>

The blonde's name rang out from the bottom levels of the chamber and clattered off the stone walls, the sound echoing off every available surface like the calling of a thousand angels. Mami visibly flinched when the sound reached her ears, but she maintained her composure nonetheless. In this debilitating darkness, she still had the upper hand.

"Be silent," Mami heard Famira say, the blade user's bored voice sounding irritated now. "She'll know where you are."

That much was true. But it also meant that Mami had to avoid making any undue noise herself, for fear of detection. She didn't know how long this grace period was going to last. Furrowing her brow, she closed her eyes and concentrated intensely.

Mami had never considered strong memorization skills to be a particular asset, but that particular skill of hers was proving paramount now. In the split instant after she had kicked the door to the Church open, cold moonlight had flooded the interior of the chamber; every rafter, every balcony and every observable surface of the space had been revealed for but a brief moment. And in that hair-thin second, Mami had attempted to absorb all of it.

She had only managed to pen down about eighty percent, but it was enough. The merits of having a photographic memory.

Reopening her eyes, the blonde walked slowly towards the edge of the platform she was on, taking great care to be completely silent. A small set of balconies ringed the entirely of the chamber, allowing her to move around the room without having to touch the ground, where Thalia and Famira were waiting. Above her, assuming her memory was accurate, was an intricate array of rafters and wooden beams. Mami had never seen such a dense network of wood placed against a roof, but she figured it was necessary to support the grand spires that pierced the sky above them.

It was not the rafters that were important, however, but the tactical advantages they provided. They could not wait like this forever, and eventually one of them would have to make a move. Once that happened, stealth would become moot. If Mami were to retain the upper hand, she first had to take some of the Acolyte's advantages away from them.

Taking a deep breath, Mami summoned a ribbon and launched herself into the air.

Her movements remained completely silent until after the apex of her leap. The still air began to whistle around her as she arced downwards and hooked her ribbon on the edge of a rafter, and the sound of her shoes striking the adjacent balcony was painfully loud.

The consequences were immediate. Two thin daggers buzzed through the air and sawed through the wooden railing of the balcony, the blade tearing through and colliding with the wall, sending a small spray of sparks into the atmosphere. The space around Mami was illuminated for a brief moment, the weak lighting barely revealing her leg.

It wasn't much, but it was enough.

"There!" Thalia shouted, and Famira quickly fired four more blades in rapid succession. Swearing under her breath, Mami scrambled to her feet and ran as fast she could, keeping her body low and streamlined to avoid the projectiles. Dagger after dagger whizzed through the blackness and impaled themselves into the walls around her, and sparks sprayed past her head like small fireworks. She kept her grip on the ribbon the entire time, never letting go, the golden string floating behind her like an intangible familiar.

Slamming her heels into the ground, Mami turned tail and leapt off the balcony again, this time aiming for a higher rafter. She hooked the ribbon once more before crashing back down to the next railing, the steady rain of daggers snapping at her heels the entire time. Not even bothering to mask the harshness of her breathing anymore, Mami pushed herself up and ran again, the ribbon flapping behind her. It wasn't long before she had to leap yet again, stringing her way through the rafters like a wild bird, weaving an intricate web through the solid wooden beams that criss crossed their way across the air.

She let out a ragged breath as she landed on what remained off the balconies, as the platforms had been thoroughly shredded by Famira's constant assault. She could hear Thalia yelling at the Acolyte to aim better, but she didn't bother discerning the words. She had achieved her goal. It was invisible to the naked eye now, but an immense web of ribbons now looped their way through the rafters above them. She had tied the strings as tight and close together as possible, forming an effective net to catchy anything that rose above the balconies. If anything tried flying past it in the darkness, they would caught.

"Goddammit, I can't see a bloody thing," Thalia swore below her, as Mami smirked to herself.

"Have you found the light switch yet?" Famira asked patiently.

"I'm _working_ on it."

Mami paled. If Thalia got the lights on, her plan would be useless. She had to provoke Famira, and quickly.

Rising to her feet and running to the edge of the platform, Mami pulled a musket out of her hat and fired straight at Famira's voice.

A blade lashed out a second later, and her bullet was sliced in half midair. The attack did nothing to damage the Acolyte, but the brief shower of sparks that resulted told Mami where Famira was.

Of course, the flash of light from her musket also told Famira where _she_ was.

As the sparks fizzled out and the darkness regained its dominance, Mami saw a pair of batlike wings emerging from Famira's back.

Luckily, even without the advent of light, Mami could sense where her own ribbons were. Jumping off the platform and reaching out with her free hand, she snagged one end of a string and hauled herself up, climbing higher until she was surrounded by her own web, waiting nervously in the blackness.

There was a thunderous flap as Famira launched herself off the ground. The only reason the girl was so confident about flying in the darkness was because she though she knew where Mami would be; with nothing to grab onto while in the air, Famira could accurately predict where the blonde would land.

Unfortunately, Famira did not have photographic memory, and she did not know about the rafters, or the effective spider's web that awaited her.

"Got it!" Thalia shouted, flipping several switches at once.

Light flooded the entirely of the chamber in unison, utterly blinding all three of the room's occupants. Famira's hands flew to her eyes, but she squinted through her fingers just in time to see the mass of ribbons rushing towards her.

"Oh..." The Acolyte intoned, emotionless as ever.

Her wings could not stop her in time, and Famira crashed into the golden net, her wings tangling immediately in the tightly woven threads. Acting quickly through her own squinted eyes, Mami clenched her fist, willing those specific ribbons to tighten themselves. The strings whipped and lashed around at her command, and soon a significant portion of her web had been dedicated to wrapping Famira up into a tight cocoon, the girl hanging near the bottom of the rafters like a spider's dinner.

Mami breathed in hard as a thin film of sweat lined her brow, sitting perched higher up on the web. She looked down at Famira, and the Acolyte simply stared back, her passive face highlighted only by her smoldering eyes.

Closing her eyes, the blonde inhaled deeply and tossed away her musket. As much as she wanted to celebrate her victory, it wasn't over yet.

Letting go of the ribbons, she let herself fall through the levels of the web until she landed beside Famira. The Acolyte continued to stare at her but said nothing, and Mami had to admire the girl's stoic composure, if just for a moment.

Drawing another musket, she aimed it at the Soul Gem nestled comfortably in Famira's chest.

Her hands began to sweat almost immediately. Famira would not die if she did this. The Acolyte would simply by out for several consecutive hours as her soul gathered itself and consolidated into a new Soul Gem. She knew this, but she still couldn't bring herself to pull the trigger. Call it morality, call it cowardice - but ending it like this didn't feel right. She could only remember the light leaving Kyouko's eyes when Homura had shattered the redhead's soul, all those months ago, and it was then that Mami had vowed never to witness the sight again.

But then she remembered the pain and fear on Kiku's face, moments before her own Tiro Finale had saved them both. She thought back to Kyouko's cries of pain as Thalia snapped her bones in two. She recalled the sight of Homura falling out of the sky like a smote angel. She remembered all these things, and anger began to replace her sympathy. She had left too many loose ends hanging in her life for the same reason. If she could only let her rage take over, she could be so much more decisive.

Wrapping both hands around the safety, Mami prepared to pull the trigger.

A streak of white to her left, and suddenly Thalia was crashing into her, sending them both flying several feet to the right. Mami gasped as her net prevented her from becoming an ugly stain on the ground, her musket flying into the air and dissipating. Thalia seemed to have miscalculated in her haste as well, the gaunt looking girl landing awkwardly by the blonde's side.

Mami got up first, but she wasn't fast enough. Thalia lunged for her, the web of ribbons springing back and forth violently as the two of them collided again, rolling back to where Famira was bound. Mami wailed when a fist struck out and crushed her collarbone, the fragile structure turning into powder beneath Thalia's might. Flapping her hand around wildly, Mami pulled three ribbons from the web and wrapped them around Thalia's arm just as the girl was rearing back to punch her.

Roaring in anger, the tank reached up and tore the ribbons to shreds.

Tears burning as she moved through the pain, Mami raised her other hand. The edge of the net unraveled itself and looped several times under her arms, the ribbons yanking her backwards and out of Thalia's immediate reach. The blonde flailed blindly as she soared through the air, landing solidly on something with substance. Opening her eyes, she realized she had landed on Famira, the girl's cold, dead eyes burning into her.

But it was too late to move, because Thalia was upon her. Mami fired off a musket to no avail as the tank approached her, taking a step back as she did. Her foot slipped through a hole in the depleted net as she did, and Mami lost her balance, falling with her back covering Famira's face.

Thalia snarled and leapt for her, eyes filled with uncaring hatred.

Timing it carefully, Mami dodged to the side, Thalia's leading punch sailing past her.

It struck Famira instead, the girl's fist tearing through the ribbons and smashing the blade user's Soul Gem into pieces, the sound of her crushed soul echoing off the walls of the chamber.

Thalia's eyes went wide.

As the light left Famira's eyes, Mami knew this was her chance. Scrambling to her feet, she aimed a hefty kick at Thalia's head.

Her foot shattered on impact, bolts of pain running up her already injured leg.

"AH!" Mami screamed, falling backwards as her magic rushed to repair the wound. No, that was impossible. Was Thalia's power not to negate magical attacks? How was she blocking physical ones as well?

The tank had recovered from her initial shock by now, rising up to look at Mami with smoldering irises. Mami showed her teeth and fired off two warning shots as her foot continued to fix itself, knowing it would accomplish nothing. Thalia's eyes tracked the bullets as she dodged to the side, allowing the projectiles to whiz past her and strike the far wall.

Something triggered in Mami's mind when she saw that. If Thalia was impervious to her bullets, why bother dodging?

...Ah.

"I am going to tear you heart out and have it for dinner," Thalia seethed, her eyes red. "You're going to pay for doing that to Thalia."

"Not today," Mami replied bluntly, snapping her fingers.

There was a brilliant flash of light as the ribbons disappeared in a puff of smoke, and the net absolutely vanished beneath them. Thalia's eyes went wide as there was suddenly nothing between them and the floor but empty space, and a moment later they both plummeted out of the air.

Thalia flailed as they fell, her hands clawing through nothing. Knowing she had the element of surprise again, Mami adjusted her trajectory and fell while using Thalia as a cushion, crushing the girl beneath her added weight. The Acolyte let out a choked breath as the ground literally cracked beneath them, thin lines webbing their way through the stone. Mami then attempted to seize her by the collar, but Thalia kicked her away, barely glancing off the blonde's side and giving her a good bruise. Mami leapt back and narrowed her eyes, preparing herself for the next flurry of attacks. She could see the door beyond Thalia's back.

The Acolyte was about to charge when said door was blasted open.

"GET AWAY FROM HER YOU BASTARD!"

Thalia whirled around just in time to have Kyouko bowl them both over, Mami barely avoiding being knocked down as the two girls went skidding along the polished floor of the Church. Kyouko untangled herself and summoned her spear at the same time, settling into a defensive stance as she backed up to stand level with Mami.

"You didn't seriously think those ribbons would be enough, did you?" The redhead smirked, flashing the blonde a winning smile.

Mami stared dumbly for a moment before smiling bemusedly.

"I guess not."

"No time for small talk," Kiku told them sternly, running up to join them. "This isn't over yet."

Thalia peeled herself off the ground and wiped her mouth, turning around to see that the number of her opponents had increased from one to three.

"She's mine," Kyouko growled, and the battle recommenced.

* * *

><p>Kagami pushed the door open, revealing the space beyond.<p>

It had been a long climb up the tower. Judging from how long it had taken them to reach the top, Homura imagined they were inside the Church's tallest spire, the central tower that loomed above all the rest. It made her imagine, just briefly, that Tayoshi was a warped version of Rapunzel, trapped within a dark tower and kept captive by circumstance.

The illusion was only cursory, however, because it would have meant that Tayoshi was innocent.

"Go," Kagami prompted her, and Homura entered the room.

She immediately recognized that it was a bedroom. The flooring was not stone but gentle wood paneling, the dark brown maple dimly reflecting the yellow lights that hung at various angles from the ceiling. It was an ordinary bedroom, plain and simple, distinguished only by the fact that an entire wall was dedicated to being a massive window, providing her with a view of the city below.

There was very little in the room itself, and most of the space was dominated by a single large bed, held down by the small girl propped up within its covers.

Her hair was a deep purple, or at least it looked like it had been, because most of the strands were shriveled and dying. Her eyes, a broken blue; a shattered mirror, and broken sky. That was what Homura in those eyes. Something missing, a lost piece of the puzzle, dooming the girl to hollowness forever. She looked tiny amongst the big sheets and the suffocating pillows, like a dying plant placed among factories. Yes, that was what she looked like. A dying plant. Gaunt skin, pulled even tighter than Thalia's, and sunken eyes. A weak and fragile frame.

So this was the infamous fourth Acolyte.

"Welcome, Akemi Homura," The small girl said from the bed. Her voice was raspy, a forgotten memory of the wind, and they had to strain to hear it. "I am Tayoshi."

Kagami bowed her head in greeting, clasping her hands together. "I-I brought her, like you asked."

Homura looked at the illusionist in surprise, wondering what could illicit such a reaction from her. She quickly realized that it wasn't fear that shook the girl's voice so; no, it was emotion.

Pity.

How surprisingly human.

"Thank you," The gaunt girl said, smiling weakly. Kagami bowed her head again before retreating to the corner of the room, watching them both intently. Homura turned back towards the bed.

"Tayoshi," She said, rolling the name around on her tongue. "Is that written how I think it is?"

The girl smiled, though there was no humor behind it. Homura wondered if it was because she really wasn't amused, or simply lacked the energy. "If you're thinking 'death of the sun', you would be right."

Homura remained silent, waiting for the girl to explain herself. She must have been unconscious for a number of hours within the cellar, because the vestiges of night were beginning to recede. A pale white light was clawing its way up from below the horizon as the dawn approached. Instead of speaking, however, Tayoshi turned and looked longingly out the window, her eyes fixed on something in the distance.

Homura followed her gaze, and her heart stopped.

There, looming over the rising sun like a brooding cloud, was the Radix.

The time traveler bit her cheek as her eyes processed the literal cloud of despair in the distance. She had known this was going to happen. The Radix would assault the Church in a matter of days, bringing every demon in Mitakihara with it, and probably most of the Kazaminoan ones, as well. The numbers were there, the odds were there, the statistics were there; but seeing it for herself was something else entirely. There were simply so _many_. The cloud of demons was not necessarily close, but it wasn't far either, and Homura's eyes could just make out the movements of the monsters heading towards them.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Tayoshi asked, slowly pulling herself out of the bed. Kagami rose to help her, but the girl shooed her away. "Always a certain captivation in observing demons; a rare chance to be able to do that, really. Though I suppose I would know more than most about them."

She walked gingerly to the far end of the room, standing in front of the thick glass that dominated that side of the spire. She motioned for Homura to join her, and after glancing briefly at Kagami, the time traveler obliged.

Homura took in Tayoshi's face as she got closer. The girl really did look like she was on her last legs. It seemed as if the universe were slowly crushing her, wrapping its infinite fingers around her exceptionally small frame, and gradually forcing her into submission. The time traveler looked back out at the Radix, and the rising sun beyond it, and wondered if the girl's name was a prophecy of sorts.

Tayoshi sighed, slouching forward. "I have been watching you for a very long time, Akemi Homura," She said softly, drawing the girl's gaze to her. "A _very_ long time. Hidden, from the shadows, as always. I understand a great deal about you, Homura. And from what I've seen, you understand a great deal about me."

Homura stared down at the fabric binding her hands together. "I'm afraid I don't understand."

The smaller girl smiled knowingly. "No, I suppose you wouldn't. Understanding is everything, after all. I suppose it is time for you to learn the truth...well, suffice to say, the Radix is not just here to devour Sakura Kyouko's wish location. It is here for me."

Homura stiffened. "And why is that?"

Tayoshi raised her hand, squinting with a smile on her face as she shielded herself from the sun.

"I am the Radix...and the Radix is me."

* * *

><p>"We have to go, Seiyaku," Mishki said, grasping the girl's shoulder. "We've done all we can."<p>

Buzzer One bared her teeth as reality was thrust before her. The guide was right, of course. There was nothing left for her to do. But that didn't mean she had to be happy with it.

Taking a deep breath, she readied her nerves for what lay ahead. "Alright. Open the portal."

Mishki signaled to someone behind them, and a girl with teleportation powers tore open a small rift in space time, the portal gaping wide before them.

"Lock on to Kyubey's location for now," Mishki instructed, slinging her pack over her shoulder. "We'll start from there." She nudged Seiyaku gently. "Let's go."

Nodding, the Buzzer stepped into the portal, closing her eyes as space warped itself around her.

_I hope I've done enough._

* * *

><p><em>"<em>It's a really long story," Tayoshi said, inhaling slowly as she seemed to absorb the sun's rays. "Or, maybe it actually isn't. That's just an excuse people make when they are too afraid to explain themselves, after all. And I fear nothing."

Homura simply stared at her, still stunned by the magnitude of Tayoshi's claim. What could it possibly mean?

"It would do to start from the very beginning, I suppose," The girl mused, looking down at her hand. She seemed incredibly calm. "Kyubey was not always the sole Incubator who patrolled Mitakihara. Years ago, before even Mami Tomoe granted her own selfish desire, an Incubator named Seren contracted me."

Homura's mind was whirring faster than the gears in her shield. No, this was impossible. Whatever this girl was about to tell her, she knew she was going to find it impossible. But all she could was stand there and listen, witness the terrifying tale be spun before her, as she watched the Radix steadily approach through the window.

"I already knew of the existence of magic before I contracted," Tayoshi continued, beginning to pace slowly back and forth, though she stayed near the window. "I was a rare case. Not unlike you, Homura. My friends advised me against contracting, but I went ahead and did it anyway. The possible rewards, the dreams that could be fulfilled; even thinking about it was...intoxicating." She paused. "I'll tell you my wish, Homura-san. I am not afraid to tell you. I wished to be remembered forever."

Kagami flinched when the words left Tayoshi's mouth, and for a moment Homura felt the illusionist's spell waver. For just a few seconds, she heard the sound of battle echoing through the halls of the Church, and beyond that, the presence of a certain redhead.

_Kyouko._

Then Kagami blinked, quickly recovering, and the illusion reestablished itself.

Tayoshi smiled almost bemusedly at the Acolyte. "It was a terrible wish, of course. Imagine the selfishness that must have driven such a baseless desire; the fear of death, the fear of being forgotten, just another ordinary name lost amongst the annals of time. But it was my wish, and I am not afraid to tell you. Most wishes are selfish to some degree, but mine was exceptional. It broke the rules. It was tainted."

_Radixes are dangerous creatures. They are born from tainted wishes._ Kiku's voice whispered into Homura's mind, words from a distant memory.

"We didn't know what I had done immediately; in fact, we didn't know for years," Tayoshi said, ceasing her pacing for a moment to face Homura. "Radixes are different from ordinary demons. They take much longer to form, but when they do, they are that much more powerful. Something like that was not going to go unnoticed, though, and one day fate fell upon us four. Thalia was out hunting alone when she stumbled upon the Radix in its growth stage, hidden within the rubble of an abandoned warehouse."

Homura remembered that that was exactly where she herself had first encountered the Radix, and the memory of the bloodied Madoka returned to her. She felt sick.

"It terrified her," Tayoshi said, her smile tinged with sadness this time. "We didn't know what Radixes were, back then. But the fear was enough. Thinking back on it, we should have all gone together and destroyed it. But the truth is that we didn't, and I am not afraid to say that. We packed out things and fled to Kazamino, and there a few nomads told us everything."

Homura swallowed something hard. "So the reason the Radix is coming here," She said slowly, her tongue thick, "The reason it even _exists_...is because of you."

Tayoshi's unending smile did not waver. "The Radix is a product of my very desire," She said. "Naturally, the two of us are linked, and I knew that one day it would come again. The Radix _lives_ to devour magical energy, and it would naturally derive the most satisfaction from devouring mine. I always knew this day would come."

"Then why didn't you run?" Homura snarled bitterly, taking a step towards the gaunt looking girl. Kagami rushed forward to restrain her, but Tayoshi held a hand up, warding the illusionist off. "Why didn't you flee to a far away city? Why _stay_ here, and let all of this happen?"

"No matter how far I ran, the Radix would continue to follow me," The girl replied, and this time her voice was cold. "It would become distracted on occasion, but it would always be following me. Mami Tomoe's wish location occupied its attention for long enough, but now there is no stopping fate. I will not spend the rest of my life running. Besides, this body will not last much longer regardless."

It was then that Homura remembered the debilitated state of Tayoshi's body. Stepping back and looking the girl up and down, she murmured, "How did you get like this?"

The smile was back again. "There are consequences to being linked to a Radix," She said. "The monster draws its life force from my wish, and consequently, my soul. The more powerful that thing gets, the more my soul is devoured to fuel it, and the more my body is filled with grief."

Homura stared into those dying eyes. "So you mean..."

"It's a cancer," Tayoshi smiled, leaning against the wall now. "A Grief Cancer, one that devours me over time. Look. My soul is more grief than energy now. I have been slowly dying for the past year, waiting for the end to come."

The Acolyte swept the sleeve of her nightgown aside, revealing the ashy gray Soul Gem fixed to her wrist. A small portion of it shone in a brilliant purple, but most of it was consumed in an unforgiving darkness, the signature miasma of despair.

"Incredible," Homura murmured, entranced. "How did you survive, all this time...?"

Tayoshi dropped her arm, the sleeve covering her hand again.

"That brings me to my next topic," She said, walking past the time traveler. She signaled to Kagami, and the illusionist brought her hands together, a thick mist pluming out from her fingers. Homura vaguely remembered Kiku doing something similar.

An image formed itself within the smoke, and Homura's heart clenched.

* * *

><p>Seiyaku's eyes opened as the portal deposited her on the other side, and the first thing she saw was Kyubey staring back at her, perched on a bedside table.<p>

"Kyubey," She greeted, stepping forward to make room for Mishki. "Where are the others?"

[_Already at the Church,_] The alien replied, his tail waving slowly. [_Though it might already be too late._]

"Just tell us where to place the portal."

[_Very well._]

* * *

><p>There, within the mist, was an image of the central chamber of the Church, now marred and broken beyond recognition. Thalia, Mami, Kyouko, and Kiku were all standing off in a loose half circle, looking as if they were about to fight.<p>

Homura set her jaw. "Do you mean to threaten me with this?" She asked, looking down at Tayoshi. "The odds are three versus one. Thalia cannot possibly-"

"Thalia will not have to do anything," The Acolyte interrupted her, walking until she faced the time traveler, the image between them. "I have told you so many things, Homura, but I have not told you the final bit. And that is my power."

The shield user glared as Tayoshi stared lovingly down at her hands.

"It took me a while to figure it out, myself," She said, grasping her wrists. "Which is strange, considering that magical girls are supposed to instinctively understand their abilities. I first realized it a few months after my contracting. We got into a scuffle with a group of nomads, and I managed to hijack one of their powers."

Homura's blood ran cold. "No."

"Don't be afraid, Homura. I'm not," Tayoshi pointed out, holding her hand out between them. "But yes, that is my gift. When given the opportunity, I can devour another girl's soul...and adopt her powers. Not unlike a Radix, in its own right."

Homura felt sick. "Then, the Sisters..."

Tayoshi smirked, little arcs of lightning and fire dancing across her fingertips. "They were easily subdued. Their abilities are destructive, but not what I am looking for."

"So _that's_ how you were able to survive for so long," Homura whispered, her eyes wide. "You've been devouring souls to combat the Grief Cancer."

"Yes, in essence," Tayoshi murmured softly back, her eyes filled with wonder. "It was the reason for everything, really, and why I fear nothing. With this power, we were able to take control of the Church, and use the massive stash of Grief Seeds to drain some of my cancer away. That was never enough, however, and soon I had to turn to the organic variant. The slaughter on the hill really helped. I devoured eight souls on that night alone, and since then we have been taking prisoners at regular intervals, in the never ending quest to watch the sun rise every morning."

"No," Homura whispered, thinking of all the dead, of Karen's terrified face, of her own fate. "All this...all this for you?" She said incredulously, while Tayoshi smiled innocently back. "You! Are you fine with this? With what you've done?" She yelled, directing the words at Kagami. The illusionist only stared back with hard eyes.

"We all care for Tayoshi's well being," She said bluntly. "She is our friend, and our companion. We could not let her die such an untimely death."

"And so it stands, Homura," The gaunt girl to her side concluded. "I have mastered the art of bending new powers to my will, and I have discovered uses for them that their original owners could never accomplish. You can imagine, then, why I would be so interested in you."

Homura stared into the mist, into Kyouko's fiery eyes, and knew the answer.

"Time," She murmured. "You want to fool time."

"Precisely," The Acolyte breathed. "With your soul, I could apply your magic to my own body and extend my lifetime tenfold. I would sometimes get glimpses through the Radix's eyes, and it is through it that I learned about you. I would have run eventually, but knowing that you were coming, I decided to wait."

Homura raised her head and stared hard into the girl's eyes. "And what makes you think I'll be alright with that?"

"I have devoured twenty six souls in my lifetime," Tayoshi replied. "With the flick of a finger, I can bring this entire cathedral down on your friends' heads. It wouldn't even be a challenge."

"You'll kill Thalia."

"Don't be dense. Thalia will survive. The rest of them will not."

Homura stared one last time into those deep purple eyes, so much like her own, but saw no reflection. Tayoshi had claimed that they understood each other, and that much was true. Homura knew the desperation of someone with nothing to lose. But that did not mean she sympathized. She had fought in desperation for someone she loved, and even now she was doing the same. Tayoshi had never fought for anyone but herself, and it was in this realization that made Homura realize how corrupted the girl's wish had been. To be remembered forever without merit...it was the most selfish of desires, and the most cowardly.

She would never have forced suffering onto another person to achieve her goals. She had always shouldered suffering herself.

Yet for the last three years, Tayoshi had been relying on the Acolytes.

"Choose, Akemi Homura," The girl said.

_Choose_. Choice. There was always a choice, wasn't there? Even now, where the choices were wildly unbalanced. Homura had felt the universe pushing its tides against her from the moment she had awoken on that hospital bed and discarded her glasses. She had known from the start that things were not going to be easy. So it was ridiculous for her to hope that this decision would be easy. This time, there would be no turning back, but then again, there never was. She had never once regretted any of her decisions, even the bad ones, because it was all part of her own journey.

Meeting Kagami's eyes, Homura opened her mouth to speak.

"I-"

A rift in space time tore itself open behind the illusionist, the portal yawning open in place. Seiyaku and Mishki both stepped out before anyone else could react, and a moment later the diminutive guide had a long pistol pressed against Kagami's temple.

"Sorry," Mishki said, "But this party's over."

Homura watched in astonishment as the image in Kagami's mist underwent a drastic change. Countless teleportation portals were rending themselves open in the air around the main chamber, and dozens of little figures were dropping out of the rifts to join the fray. Their numbers kept growing, and then there were dozens, and suddenly it was chaos as fifteen factions from across Kazamino leapt through space and time to launch themselves into the Church, filling the room like a human tidal wave.

Kagami swore and tried to duck away from the gun, but Homura preempted her. Yanking hard on the rope that tied them both together, she sent the illusionist crashing to the ground. She then leapt on the girl and held her down with Seiyaku's help, digging through her pockets until her fingers closed around her own Soul Gem. She was transformed into an instant, her chains burning away as she achieved magical form for what felt like the first time in ages.

Leaving Mishki to take her place, Homura stepped away from Kagami's body to face Tayoshi. The fourth Acolyte simply stared at her, composure never wavering.

"I'm sorry, Tayoshi," Homura said. "But this is how it's going to be." She slowly drew a pistol from her storage portal, raising the weapon and aiming for the Acolyte's Soul Gem, intending to knock her out.

"_Get away from her!"_ Kagami screamed, and suddenly there was more than one Kagami, multiple clones birthing themselves in impossibly rapid succession, and Homura was reminded of the power of illusion. Four of the clones overwhelmed Kagami's captors as the original charged forward and swept Tayoshi up in her arms, fleeing for the window. Shouting in alarm, Homura brought her gun to bear and fired off three shots.

The first two missed and struck the window, shattering the glass into oblivion. The third hit its mark, impaling Tayoshi's leg before whistling out the other end.

The Acolyte gasped when the bullet tore through her, and suddenly, far in the distance, the Radix began to roar with her.

Then they were both gone, as Kagami stepped off the edge.

"No!" Homura yelled, running to the ledge and peering over. Kagami's head was just a receding dot below them now, but the two Acolytes were obviously going to survive the fall. Homura was about to summon her wings and pursue them when Mishki shouted something pointing at the horizon.

The Radix was moving incredibly fast now, the brooding cloud covering the distance between them and the Church at a terrifying clip.

"That thing's moving faster," Mishki warned them, backing away from the window.

"It must be responding to Tayoshi's injury," Homura shouted back, raising her voice over the wind that was screaming past them through the shattered window. "The two of them are one."

"Whatever the reason, it's going to get here within the next few minutes," Seiyaku said, already running for the door. "We need to regroup with the others. Come on!"

Mishki quickly picked herself up and followed Seiyaku through the door, but Homura paused for a moment before leaving, taking a second to observe the black cloud on the horizon, and wondering if the sun was indeed destined to die.

* * *

><p><strong>Part 1 concludes next week! Thanks to everyone who made it this far into the story. As always, I appreciate any feedback you give me! I'm on break, so I'll probably be writing a ton.<strong>

**~Banshee**


	21. Credens Justitiam

Chapter 21: Credens Justitiam

"Make way!" Seiyaku shouted as the three of them burst down the steps, very nearly mowing down the magical girls who happened to be standing in their path. Buzzer One unceremoniously shoved aside a few more people before they all emerged back into the central chamber, the cold stone walls already ringing with the din of dozens and dozens of factions.

"Make way, make way!"

Homura might have had a few words to share with Mishki, but she had higher priorities right now; she could thank the guide later, when the time was right. Setting her jaw, the time traveler began to squeeze her way through the crowd.

The chamber wasn't exactly packed, but seeing it filled with so many people when it had been completely empty before was a bit jarring. The sea of faces around her offered few familiar features; in fact, there were none. Still, she was grateful to them. It was thanks to all of these girls that she was still alive. She would have to thank them all later, too. Homura knew how hard it was to put yourself in danger for no guaranteed reason.

All the puella magi were on edge, restless; they can come here expecting a fight, but they were simply standing around instead, and it was starting to get to them.

But Homura didn't have time to worry about that, because she had finally spotted Kyouko.

She raised her hand with the intention of calling out to the redhead, but Kyouko turned her head and locked their eyes together first. Pausing in her steps, Homura watched as the redhead turned around and said a word to Mami and Kiku, who nodded solemnly back at her. Kyouko nodded slowly back, then faced Homura again.

And began to charge.

Blinking in surprise, Homura was caught between simply waiting or dodging out of the way as Kyouko ran full tilt towards her, the distance between them shrinking rapidly. Of course, due to her indecision, she ended up standing ramrod straight as the redhead slammed her heels into the ground, seized Homura by the collar, and proceeded to punch the time traveler repeatedly in the shoulder.

"Ow! What...Kyouko, what are you-"

"You fucking idiot!" The redhead yelled, ignoring Homura and continuing to rain punches on her body. The girl pushed forward, and Homura found herself staggering under their combined weight. "You stupid, stupid, foolish son of a.."

"Um," Homura said, looking around nervously as the multitudes of girls surrounding them gave them odd looks, though some of the stares were bemused. She grabbed Kyouko by the shoulders and forced some distance between them, though the redhead continued to struggle and flail about in her grip. "Kyouko, look, I'm sorry-"

"Sorry my ass! Do you have any idea how _worried_ I was?" Kyouko almost snarled, swinging at Homura again. "You know worrying stresses me out! How the hell could you do that to me? And all because of a stupid vision-"

Not knowing how else to shut the redhead up, Homura clamped her hands beneath Kyouko's chin and kissed her full on the mouth.

Several moments passed before Kyouko realized exactly what was going on, and there was actually a brief period where the redhead continued to yell curses straight down Homura's throat, the words sending a light tingle between them. A few seconds later, however, the girl's arms stopped flailing and dropped back to her sides, and her body relaxed considerably. The time traveler's fingers tightened around Kyouko's shoulders, as she tried to communicate efficiently what she couldn't say in words.

Homura's ears were burning a distinguishable red as she forced them apart again, Kyouko and the rest of the spectators around them staring at her with shocked expressions, but at least everyone was quiet now. Swallowing hard and reaching out to pat kyouko awkwardly on the head, she said, "We'll...talk about this later, okay? But I am sorry. Really. Just...right now isn't the time, yes?"

"I...uh..." The redhead found her tongue strangely tied. Homura hadn't gone _that_ far, of course, but the though of it was still lingering in the back of her mind, making it difficult to form words. "Um. Yeah. You're right. That's fine, I guess."

Somewhere within the crowd, they heard Mishki stifle a guffaw.

Kyouko was about to yell curses at _her_ too, but Seiyaku preempted her.

_Ahem!_ The short haired girl announced duly, drawing most eyes to her. She was standing atop one of the many balconies that ringed the central chamber, staring down at them with her arms crossed over her chest. "Pay attention, people! That monster we saw on the horizon is going to be here in under fifteen minutes. We can't all stay down here; the demons will swarm us, and our numbers will mean nothing."

Homura's eyes narrowed, and the general air of uneasiness settled over the factions once again. Yes, that was what they were here for. They mustn't forget that. It was strange, really. Once you decided to go through with something dangerous, you bred the odd desire to see it through, no matter what.

"I know that you aren't exactly here because you want to be," Seiyaku began, before pausing, wondering if it would matter whether she said anything or not. Then she shook her head. "But I would like to believe that we're all here for a common cause; to protect this city, and our homes. Fate does not often choose cowards. I think we can all praise ourselves for that."

The girls were intermixed with one another, woven together like a tightly knit blanket of faces, all looking up at the Buzzer standing above them. Homura thought that, for once, she couldn't discern between factions.

"I don't know what will happen if - when - this is over," Seiyaku continued, seeming to search for her words. "But I feel like this might be the start of something big, something important. But for those words to mean anything, we have to win today. Everybody, spread out throughout the Church!"

The murmurs of the girls around them took on a darker tone as they began to split into seemingly random groups, filtering out through the many doors that led out of the chamber, systematically attempting to cover as much ground as possible. Homura supposed to they were naturally splitting into their respective factions. They were all rather disorganized, but the chamber emptied itself quickly enough; if not by order, these girls were driven by fear.

"Come on," Mami murmured to her from behind. Kiku was tagging close after the blonde. "Other groups will station themselves here. We should relocate as well."

Homura nodded, following Mami out of the chamber, dragging a still dazed Kyouko along with her.

Outside, the dark cloud grew ever closer.

* * *

><p>Five minutes later, the Mitakihara Four were sitting close together on the second floor of the Sakura Church, near the windows of a lower spire that allowed them to observe the Radix from a distance. Someone had picked up Famira's body and dumped it on one of the higher levels, where the demons were unlikely to penetrate. Homura supposed that was the difference between them. Famira wouldn't have done the same for anyone.<p>

Briefly, she thought about Thalia. The strong girl had disappeared in the chaos that ensued after Seiyaku's heroic rescue, and her whereabouts were currently unknown. Homura supposed it didn't matter. As long as she didn't come back, the time traveler didn't care. She was tired, after all. Tired of fighting. Violence wore down on the soul.

Gently tracing the rim of her shield, she quietly promised herself that this would be the final battle, for better or worse.

Murmuring behind her. Mami was having a brief word with Kyouko, something about Thalia's power. Perhaps the blonde had found something out? Normally she would have taken the opportunity to gather some potentially useful information, but today she didn't have the drive. She didn't know what it was. Battle apprehension, maybe?

Sighing and looking out the window of the tower, Homura laid her eyes on the Radix. It was still some distance away, but in nine minutes and forty two seconds it would descend upon the Church, barring further developments. The black cloud seemed bigger and more menacing than ever. The dull din that had surrounded the building earlier was gone, as the rest of the girls had filtered out through the cathedral and laid, waiting, in silence. She supposed one didn't really want to talk before something like this. She didn't particularly want to, either.

Mami concluded her talk with Kyouko, and the redhead walked over and joined Homura by the window.

"Mami just told me the craziest thing," Kyouko muttered as she seated herself beside the time traveler, their bodies brushing slightly against each other almost automatically. "Apparently the reason why Thalia can block both magic and physical attacks is because she can switch between the two. While she's blocking magic she can take punches, but when she's blocking punches she's vulnerable to magic."

Homura exhaled slowly and looked away from the window. "Would have been nice to know that a day ago."

"Tell me about it," Kyouko chuckled softly. "But things rarely work out that way."

"Indeed."

The two of them fell silent, and the only sound besides the whispering of the wind was Mami's words, as the blonde murmured assurances to Kiku. Homura looked back out the window and wondered, however fleetingly, where the Acolytes were now. Would they really just leave Famira behind and run? She supposed it would be within their capacity to do so. Still, having potential loose ends bothered her.

"I hope the demons don't come in through the windows," Kyouko muttered suddenly, leaning against her. "That stained glass was expensive as hell..."

"You worry about the silliest things," Homura murmured back, their fingers brushing together. "Sometimes I wonder about my priorities."

"But I do have them," Kyouko reminded her, though it was devoid of irritation. She ran her finger along Homura's knuckles. "And you're one of them."

Surprisingly enough, Homura didn't blush. She just smiled to herself, feeling stupidly giddy for someone who was about to head into the biggest battle of her life.

The black cloud outside was like a wormhole, but around it, the infantile morning's halo caressed the grassy knoll.

Homura closed her eyes for a brief moment, burying herself in the redhead's scent, privately fearing that it may be the last time she got to sit here like this.

"Get up, you two," Mami murmured from her seat, rising and flexing her arms. "It's almost time."

Eyes opening, Homura checked her internal timer. Two minutes and five seconds.

Rising to her feet and peeking out once more, Homura felt her heartbeat increase just a little bit.

The Radix had finally reached the base of the hill, the dark cloud swarming restlessly at the bottom of the knoll. She supposed the demons were capable of moving faster, but it was entirely possible that they were conserving energy for the real fight. They had no need to rush, after all. They and the girls of Kazamino would not flee. It could take all the time in the world.

[_Everybody, open mental thought channels,_] Mishki said to them, and Homura felt the subconsciouses of many girls opening themselves up throughout the Church, and suddenly they were all subtly connected. [_Communicate regularly. We have numbers, but they still dwarf us twenty to one. Fight smart, don't do anything stupid, and don't try to be a hero. You've already earned everyone's respect by simply being here. Now, if there are no further questions, I'm going to stop talking._]

Mishki's voice faded into the background, and Homura turned to her companion. Kyouko nodded affirmatively at her, hefting her spear. The time traveler forced a small smile before drawing a lightly designed Uzi, checking her magazines for the tenth time. Her veins were buzzing. It had been a long time since the stakes were this high. Fight and live, or die. When was the last time it had been like this?

Ah, yes. Of course. Walpurgisnaucht.

She hadn't been expecting to run into another situation like that anytime soon.

"Kiku and I will cover the adjacent half of this floor," Mami informed them, preparing to leave the room. She reached out a grabbed the doorknob.

"Wait," Homura said, reaching out for the blonde. The girl stopped, turning to stare back at her.

"I..." She paused, at a rare loss for words. Why had she stopped her? No reason, really. No real reason. Just this impending fear, that she was going to regret something. Homura understood that you could never take things for granted, even the things in life that she thought she didn't need. Blinking once, she said, slowly,

"Be...be careful."

The blonde smiled warmly and readied her weapons.

"Thank you. I will."

And then she was gone, leaving her alone with Kyouko.

"Color me surprised," The redhead grunted, as Homura scoffed and checked her magazines for the eleventh time.

"Don't tease me. You know I was just being considerate."

Kyouko just smiled to herself, and silence enveloped them again.

One minute and three seconds.

[_You know, I never thought that I'd be in an important spot like this,_] Seiyaku murmured to Homura through a private channel. [_It was always just worrying about myself, about the Buzzers, and not really caring about anybody else. It was easier that way, somehow. But this threat involves us all. And I understand that...but I'd be lying if I said I'm not overwhelmed._]

Homura set her Uzi aside and instead took a moment to draw a long barreled Lynx sniper rifle from her storage portal, the much larger weapon taking a considerable amount of time to draw. Extracting the rifle and setting it up against the window sill, Homura checked the scopes once before replying.

[_It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the weight the world chooses to put on your shoulders,_] She said, adjusting her sights. [_For some, it happens but once, and they can look back at it as a fond memory. But for others, it never seems to end, and the weight just makes them numb._]

There was a wordless stretch as Homura continued making adjustments. Then, [_Are you one of those people, Akemi-san? Do your battles never seem to end?_]

Homura smiled bitterly to herself. [_I suppose I am. I wouldn't know the difference otherwise. But, hopefully...just maybe...this will be the last time._]

[_Forty five seconds until the Radix reaches us,_] Mishki droned to them all over the general mental channel. [_All those near a window who have long ranged attacks, start picking them off. We need to lessen their numbers as much as possible._]

Resting the sniper rifle against her cheek, Homura motioned for Kyouko to cover her ears before closing one eye and taking aim. She could have silenced the weapon, but her effective range would have dropped as a result. No, better this way. The redhead clapped her hands over her ears and took several steps back, allowing Homura the concentration she needed.

Taking a deep breath, she fired the first shot.

There was a brief delay as the barrel of the gun cracked and popped like a firecracker gone haywire, and a deep rumble followed as the sound of the gunshot echoed down the length of the hill. A moment later, Homura saw one of the demons shriek and dissipate through her scope.

Almost immediately afterwards, the rest of the girls in the Church commenced their attack. Homura heard rather than saw the sound of Mami's muskets cracking repeatedly to their left, and this was quickly followed by every manner of magical bolts and shots, the thin little streams of power clustering together into a messy, multicolored storm. The black cloud was too far away for Homura to hear, but she saw a dozen demons go down through her scope. The attacks briefly ceased, the girls in the cathedral preparing for another wave.

Reaching up and chambering the next round, Homura fired again.

The next thirty seconds blurred together somewhat. As one of the few actual gun users in the Church, Homura was almost the only one firing consistently at the demon horde. The rest of the attacks came in intervals gradually thinning out the approaching wave of enemies. She settled into a rhythm rather quickly, repeating a sequence in her head. Aim, fire, chamber. Aim, fire, chamber. Repeat, repeat. Her movements were fluid, and were interrupted only when she reached up to chamber the next round and found that her magazine was empty.

Pulling her face away from the scope and popping the cartridge out, she considered reloading but dismissed the thought. They had only eleven seconds left. It would achieve nothing.

[_Alright, that's enough,_] Mishki told them all, the tension evident in her voice. [_I want everybody to get away from the windows. That's probably where they'll be coming in from. All long range attackers, switch to something more suited for close combat if you can. If not, stick with someone who can watch your back._]

Homura pulled her Lynx back into the room and retreated with Kyouko to the other side, but not before taking one last peek out. The black cloud was upon them now, and had already scaled the grassy knoll. In eight seconds, the real battle would begin.

The dull din sprang back up again; this was where the truly brave would be separated from the rest. Closing her eyes, Homura sent out a brief prayer to Madoka that if any souls were to be lost today, that they would be saved by Her. Somewhat satisfied by the gesture, Homura recalled her Uzi and waited, fingers tensed.

[_Don't falter, everyone,_] Seiyaku warned them. [_They are many, but they are still just demons. Stay organized, and we'll have a fighting chance._]

A muted roar suddenly began to fill the air outside. It ate at Homura's heart, injecting her veins with unfounded feelings of fear. She realized that it was the Radix, moaning hideously from within the cloud. Instinctively, she reached out and grasped Kyouko's wrist.

Just three seconds, now.

Two.

One.

[_Brace yourselves!_] Mishki shouted, as the demons unleashed chaos upon the Church.

Unfortunately for Kyouko, they came in through the stained glass first. The windows' surfaces actually bent under the weight of the demons, before the pressure became too great and they shattered, raining down upon the stone of the central chamber and sending a faction scattering. Twenty of the monsters flooded into the cathedral in less than a second, where they stood, floating, looking down upon the girls who dared defy them.

The puella stared back, mesmerized, trapped by the fear of the moment.

Then someone mounted on the balconies screamed, and everybody attacked.

There was a brief _boom_ as fire, lightning, sharpened blades, and bullets smashed into the lead group of demons, tearing through the monsters and peppering withe granite flooring with little holes. Someone in the back yelled in triumph, but the victory was short lived, because then the rest of the demons began flooding in.

It was a surreal sight. One moment the chamber was empty, and the next it was swarming with demons. Inhuman shrieks filled the air as scores of the monsters crashed into the Church, smashing through windows, cracking walls, attacking from all directions. It would have been infinitely easier if they had all come from the same direction, but instead they were everywhere, coming in through the spires, from above, from below.

Homura's consciousness was connected to every last girl in the building, and she felt everyone rear back en masse as the first real wave struck. The demons were truly a cloud around them, suffocating and desecrating, like a black hand descended from the heavens to choke them into submission. For a moment, it seemed that they were going to falter under the weight of the first assault, to be crushed and ground into the dirt to become nothing more than a memory, and monument to be mourned in passing, but never remembered.

Then every last puella magi collectively struck back, and this time it was the demons' turn to flinch backwards.

Suddenly the dawn-like whiteness beyond the window was filled with black, and Homura realized that their room was under attack as well. Kyouko twirled her spear and tore through three enemies while Homura swiftly recovered, hefting her gun and squeezing the trigger. The Uzi rattled noisily in her hands as she sprayed straight at the window, pushing the demons back with suppressive fire. She took steps towards the window as she fired, holding the line as Kyouko cut down any survivors that made it past the stream of bullets.

Finally, when she had enough leverage to do so, Homura pulled the pin off a grenade and hurled it out the window. It detonated midair, engulfing another knot of demons in flames.

[_Hold your positions!_] Seiyaku instructed them almost savagely, the battle-stress evident in her voice. [_Don't let them penetrate deeper into the Church. If they cut between us, we're done for!_]

Homura showed her teeth as her weapon gave her only a resounding click, telling her that it was empty. But there was no time to reload; more demons were already pushing their way through the window, and Kyouko was busy dealing with another three that she had missed. Tossing the Uzi into the corner, Homura summoned her bow and began to use that instead, firing off three arrows at once. They regained a little footing after that, and hope sparked back to life in her chest.

Throughout the rest of the Church, the battle continued with varying degrees of success. The Firefly group in the southern cellars were doing well; they had managed to bottleneck the demons through specific passageways, and were picking them off one by one. No problems there. The girls in the upper spires, however, were having trouble; the demon numbers there were far greater, and they had less room to maneuver when they were so higher up. If not for the high number of powerful puella magi there, they would have caved in already.

All this Homura interpreted through their linked psyches.

The sounds of the battle were probably the most telling; the tinkle of smashed glass, the indistinguishable battle cries of the girls, the endless shrieking of the demons. Homura knew that, somewhere in that mess, was the Radix. Perhaps it was fighting as well, cutting down its enemies without a second thought, its raging mind filled only by its sole intent; to reach Tayoshi.

"Duck!" Kyouko commanded, and Homura instinctively swept herself to the floor. The redhead's spear unchained itself a moment later, the ridged segments of the weapon slithering through the air like an enraged snake. It punched through the window and impaled seven demons, pushing the horde back once again.

Already knowing that Kyouko would need sufficient time to recover, Homura leapt back up and pumped arrows into the enemy, providing her partner with the cover she needed.

Then they pressed back to back again, and the pattern repeated itself.

Homura had never been in a battle this long before. Her fights had always been brief, planned, and to the point. Even her epic battles against Walpurgisnaucht has never lasted very long, as she had always attempted to inflict massive damage in a short period of time. A conflict of the scale she was now in...it was already pushing her records forward. She could only pray their stamina would last.

[_Homura, watch out!_]

Snapping back into focus, she turned to see the hairline cracks webbing across the stonework; the wall was starting to cave under the cumulative weight of the demons. The webs tripled as she watched, and little puffs of miasma were beginning to seep in through the cracks. Once that wall fell, the demons would no longer be bottlenecked.

They wouldn't be able to hold the room.

[_Transition. This room is lost. Back up, slowly,_] Homura instructed the redhead, who nodded readily and began to let the demons push her back, step by step.

They had just reached the threshold of the door when the wall gave.

The stone slabs crumbled towards them, floored by the pressure of the monsters behind it. A cold morning wind whistled in with the flood of demons that quickly followed, filling every available nook and cranny in the room in an instant. Kyouko flinched at the sudden numeration of enemies and leapt backwards, sacrificing even more leverage, back into the balconies behind them.

Clenching her first, Homura raised her shield and activated her magic.

The world ground to a standstill around them, and Homura utilized the next seven seconds as best she could. She couldn't roll any grenades, for fear of critically damaging the infrastructure of the Church, which could result in bringing the entire roof down on their heads. But she could fire, and fire she did, sending arrows, bullets, and daggers alike flying towards the enemy, emptying an entire layer of her bottomless arsenal in one fluid movement.

Her shield clicked, and color returned to the contours around them, before two dozen demons exploded into pure miasma. They were quickly replaced, however, but it did allow them both some breathing room.

She and Kyouko both slid back, Kyouko lashing out continuously with her only weapon, Homura emptying both quivers and magazines. They were slowly pushed back across the wide balcony that connected the two adjacent rooms on the second floor. If Homura had had the luxury of looking down, she would have witnessed the rest of the battle raging below them, the central chamber an impossible mess of magical bolts, demonic miasma, and the battle cries of those on the brink of despair.

Homura's back pressed against something warm, and her mind told her that it was Kiku.

Shooting a glance behind her before whirling back around with another salvo, Homura saw that both the illusionist and Mami had also been forced back to the center of the balcony, and now the four of them stood in a tight circle, engulfed by a storm of enemies.

[_I thought you were supposed to hold the room!_] Mami shouted to them telepathically, throwing her hand down in silent command. A row of muskets obeyed her will and opened fire. Kiku seemed to be doing her best to stay behind the blonde, using her magic to make Mami a harder target to hit. It was the least she could do in combat situations.

[_I could ask you the same damn thing!_] Kyouko replied fiercely, impaling another foe as she spoke. [_There's just too many of them, and this isn't even the worst of it._]

[_Do you think the other factions will be able to hold their positions?_] Kiku asked, the fear clear in her voice. She flinched badly when a claw briefly breached Mami's defenses and swept at her leg, but the blonde quickly decapitated the attacker.

[_We can only pray,_] Homura said gravely, smoothly loosing three arrows into three faceless foreheads. She ducked under a flailing sweep, before rising back up and using her shield to tear the demon apart. She was running out of options. [_We must simply hold here until-_]

Looking back on it, she should consider herself the fool. She had grown to trust Kyouko's fighting competence over much time and many battles, and the girl had never let her down in times of need. But in the end, the redhead was human, for all intents and purposes. A magical human, perhaps, but human nonetheless. She could not possibly expect the girl to be perfect at all times, but she had grown to take it for granted.

Thus, she was a little surprised when Kyouko failed to parry an oncoming demon attack, and the creature's claw tore through her left calf.

"Ahh!" Homura cried out, immediately dropping to one knee. The blood rushed in her ears as her magical automatically scattered to focus on this newfound wound, but she knew it wouldn't be fast enough. The specific knot of demons she had been holding off until now had sensed the opening, and they were bearing down on her, teeth and all.

Cursing to herself, Homura threw herself to the side, away from the others, narrowly avoiding losing her leg altogether. She rolled across the floor until she collided with the wooden railing of the balcony, the structure rattling from the impact. Knowing that her opponents would waste no time, she activated her shield again, thinking that she had wanted to conserve her time magic as much as possible.

Still not fast enough. The demons swept into her a nanosecond before her magic took place, and the world stopped for all but them as the monsters swarmed her, blacking out the dull lights that the Church had cast over them. Homura cried out in pain as she took several shallow cuts all over her body, leaping backwards to get away from the mob.

She felt her back hit nothing, and briefly realized that she had fallen off the balcony.

The roof tilted above her, and then she was tumbling through the air, the few demons that had still managed to keep in contact with her whirling with her as they hit the ground thirty feet below, hard, her head cracking painfully against the stone floor. Her shield smashed against the ground, throwing sparks everywhere, and her magic cut itself short.

And as the sounds of battle rushed back into life around them, Homura felt the demons disappearing from around her.

Forcing her eyes to open, Homura was baffled to see Kagami slicing through the horde with a small dagger, and legion of clones bounding around her to finish the rest.

Meeting the time traveler's confused eyes with her own, the Acolyte suddenly bowed her head and murmured, "I...I'm sorry."

The clones leapt into action again, this time surrounding Homura to pin her down before she could get up. Heart hammering in her chest, she tried to stop time again but found the gears in her shield jammed, and realized that one of the clones had had fingers jammed into the mechanism. Homura snarled and willed the gears to move, the steel discs clicking and grinding painfully, digging into the girl's fingers and drawing thick rivulets of blood. But the clone just grinned at her, telling Homura that it felt no pain.

The battle continued to rage around them, and no one bothered to notice that Tayoshi was walking up to them, looking as gaunt as ever.

_How?_ Homura thought, reviewing the possibilities. The answer came terrifyingly easily. Every magical girl here was from someone else in Kazamino, in places far from the Church. No one else here knew the Acolytes' faces well, if at all. It would have been terribly simple for them to slip in once the battle began, and they would have looked like any other faction to the eyes of other girls.

This was why Homura hated loose ends.

"Hello, Akemi Homura," Tayoshi almost droned, sidling up to her. "You look well."

With that said, she tried to reach out and touch the shield user, but her hand flinched back when they met a crimson barrier instead, the magical wall singing the Acolyte's fingertips.

Turning, she saw Kyouko leaping down towards them. Mami and Kiku were still pinned down on the second floor. It seemed that the redhead had left them without thinking. "Homura!"

Her spear struck like lightning for Tayoshi's throat, but the Acolyte easily sidestepped the attack. Kyouko roared and spun, trying to catch up to the nimbler girl, but quickly found herself marauded by more of Kagami's clones. The illusionist watched the redhead do battle against her copies with a grim look on her face, standing within the barrier like she was sick to her stomach.

Kyouko's concentration waned when a group of demons also chose to join the fight, and the barrier finally flickered into nothing. Tayoshi smiled wanly and stepped close to Homura again, kneeling down by the time traveler's side.

"I'm sorry it had to be this way, Homura," Tayoshi said softly, her voice sounding impossibly delicate against the sounds of war around them. "In another life, we never would have even met each other. We could have both lived our lives, uninterrupted. But in this world, only one of us can leave today alive. And it has to be me."

The blurred form of another girl streaked through the air above Tayoshi's head, the stranger's body shimmering with healing magic as it attempted to recover from being thrown clear across the chamber. Tayoshi didn't even turn around to look, however, not even flinching as the demon responsible roared lowly nearby.

Reaching out, the Acolyte placed her hand against Homura's collarbone. The time traveler shuddered when she felt something foreign and corrupt caress her soul.

"Homura!" Kyouko shouted again, attempting to untangle herself from the clones and demons, but to no avail. They fell upon her like meat shields, bogging the girl down with their mass alone. She couldn't best them herself, and anyone else was already busy fighting for their own lives.

"Don't worry. This won't hurt at all," Tayoshi assured her, but Homura could tell that it was a lie. Kagami swallowed and looked away, positioning herself as if to stand guard for them, an apprehensive look on her face. Had she witnessed a scene, just like this, many times already?

Homura squirmed in protest one last time as Tayoshi grabbed her arm, lifting it so that her violet Soul Gem shone in the dying light of the Church.

Then, leaning forward, the Acolyte sank her teeth into Homura's soul.

Homura's vision burst with light as a jagged vice seemed to clamp itself over her chest, crushing her lungs like stray paper and forcing the air out of them. She gasped and flopped violently on the floor, but was restricted by the multitude of hands holding her down. She was falling, deeper, into the caves of an abyss she would never find her way out of. It was throbbing, it was cold, and it _hurt. _An iron hot worm seemed to writhe in her gut, but Homura quickly realized that it wasn't a foreign creature but _her_, her own soul, screaming in agony at the jaws of the predator closing around it.

Tayoshi seemed to choke on something, and Homura wondered if the girl had accidentally inhaled the small trickles of blood rising from between her fingers. But no, the girl was crying. Not tears of sorrow either, but joy. Relief. As if she were finally being released from an eternal prison.

There was a peculiar light.

The last thing she saw was Tayoshi's tear filmed smile.

The girl looked oddly relieved.

* * *

><p>"Seiyaku, get down!"<p>

The Buzzer blinked and shot to the side instinctively, narrowing avoiding the claw of a demon she had failed to notice. Mishki brought a small dagger to bear and shredded through the attacker before it could recover, its body dissipating into small curls of smoke.

Seiyaku watched in muted shock as she realized how close she had just come to dying. Picking herself up and returning to the smaller girl's side, she muttered, "Thanks."

"No problem. Just don't do it again," Mishki replied tersely, before leaping back into the fray.

She and the Buzzers had decided to task themselves with defending the highest spire in the Church; and it was no simple order, that must she could say. As the tallest tower that jutted into the sky, it was the most exposed, making it an easy target for the demons to prioritize. They came in endless surges, as if they were trying to crush the girls beneath them with their combined weight alone.

Seiyaku stepped back into the center of the room as the rest of the Buzzers closed in around, providing her with a brief respite as demons continued to pour in from the many windows ringing the walls. There were simply too many openings for them to even consider bottlenecking the enemy anymore; it was difficult enough already to keep them at bay like this, surrounded like they were on a tiny island, engulfed by a malicious sea.

The order switched again, and Seiyaku took to the outer ring once again, hacking desperately to gain additional footing. They weren't exactly wrecking, but they weren't getting wrecked, either. No one was dead yet, as far as she could tell from keeping one half of her mind on the general thought channel. That was something. And the demon's couldn't keep coming forever; eventually even their numbers would be depleted, and the end would be in sight.

With one final heave, she knocked the front line of demons back, and the order switched again. Seiyaku whirled backwards and fell to one knee, her ears singing a high pitched note as she struggled to regain her breath.

Just then, a frantic voice pierced everyone's minds.

[_It's here! Through the front gates! The Radix is here!_]

Seiyaku's heart paled at the words. It had been impossible to account for how much of an impact the Radix would have on the battle, assuming that it even chose to participate. Ordinary demons could be prepared for; the Radix could not be. As such, they had been left no other choice but to pray, and hope that having to deal with the anomaly would not result in any adverse developments. Seiyaku sucked in another breath as the order prepared to change, keeping a part of her mind focused on the thought channel.

Her dagger met the cold steel of claws. [_Get out of the way, Kana! It's heading this wa-_]

She failed to parry an attack, but Kryptek covered for her. [_Isolate the Radix from the other demons as much as possible. Don't let them swarm you._] It took her a moment to realize that it was Mishki speaking, relaying orders even without the luxury of observing the hell that was probably breaking loose on the first floor.

[_Left balcony group is down. East and west rooms are lost!_]

[_I think I saw Akemi-san fall from there..._]

[_Here it comes! Don't let it transform!_]

[_Northern balcony room is lost._]

[_Shit!_]

[_Our Father in heaven, hallowed be-]_

[_Kana's down! We need some help here!_]

[_Any nearby groups who can spare at least one member, peel off and get to the central chamber._]

[_No one here can spare even a goddam bullet, Mishki._]

[_...but deliver us from evil._]

Seiyaku's head throbbed with the painful torrent of messages galloping through her mind, knowing that it was the result of the panic and fear thrumming within every last girl within the Church. She wondered if she also believed in some kind of god, whether she would be muttering prayers before every battle, knowing that the sunset always waited beneath the horizon, biding its time.

A brief mental image flashed in her mind then, a snapshot sent by one of the girls doing battle far below them. For just a split second, she saw hell. The demons were screeching and swarming everywhere like a possessed hive of bees, and the hapless girls beneath them were barely holding their ground. A few stray attacks streaked towards the Radix, which was shrouded in darkness near the back of the chamber. It simply swatted these attacks aside, a shadowy hand reached out to crush the projectiles into oblivion.

Somebody screamed, both in pain and fury.

Seiyaku gasped and paid the price for focusing so wantonly on the mental image, feeling her knees buckle as she lost the flow of the battle. She slashed through another monster and renewed the cycle.

_What are we going to do?_

* * *

><p>Homura was surrounded by whiteness, but this time Madoka had not come to speak to her.<p>

She couldn't move. Well, she could swivel her head somewhat, but beyond that she was immobilized. Everything around her swam with a languid confusion, as if all the straight lines that made up the universe had lost their fortitude and were now waving about, at the mercy of a nonexistent wind.

She looked down at her hand, which seemed fixed so that her palm lay flat before her, and nestled among the folds of her skin was an awfully familiar stone. It was her own soul, after all. That much was a given, still.

Something prompted her to look up, and she ended up meeting Tayoshi's eyes.

The small girl was standing in front of her with her own Soul Gem displayed on an open palm, her fathomless eyes smiling back at her. They stood like that, surrounded by the harsh whiteness, staring each other down. Homura saw a childish kind of glee in those eyes. It was the look of someone who had narrowly missed a bullet of some sort.

She wondered if the Acolyte was also paralyzed, but was proven wrong when Tayoshi took a step towards her.

[_Tell me, Akemi Homura,_] The girl asked her without moving her lips, [_How far will you go for those you love?_]

Homura, finding herself unable to respond in both verbal and mental capacities, simply stared back, afraid to answer.

Tayoshi smiled for real this time, and for some reason it felt genuine. [_I would go to the ends of the earth. I would dive into a thousand souls and devour a million more if I have to. That's friendship, I think. An ugly thing you can't leave behind. Sometimes, I wish I had never met my friends. Things would have been so different then._]

Homura looked back at her, and a small thought dug itself out of the depths of her mind, slipping through the cracks in her brain like her head had sprung a leak.

[_Is that what you really want?_]

Tayoshi smiled again.

[_No. No, not really. And not ever. I'm not afraid to say that._]

She reached out and curled her hand over Homura's Soul Gem, and the time traveler's vision changed.

A memory. That must be what she was seeing; there was no other way she could have possibly explained it. It was the dead of night, and the solemn spires of an abandoned construction site soared above her head. Homura craned her neck back and saw Tayoshi standing atop one of the beams, beside the still images of herself and Kyouko, two snapshots from all those months ago.

[_I have walked through many souls before this one. But yours is by far the most complex,_] Tayoshi admitted, striding like a cat along a beam until she reached Kyouko's petrified form. Homura then noticed that Mami was there too, frozen some distance away from them. [_But first, the beginning. Always the beginning. Eating souls is a very delicate process. You need to destroy the base first, or you'll never nibble your way through to the core._]

Tayoshi lifted one arm and brushed Kyouko's petrified shoulder, and Homura shuddered violently in response. The moon was bloodred above them. She didn't remember it being like that.

[_This is it. This is where it all began,_] The Acolyte spread her arms wide. [_What makes a soul can change. I can sense that you've changed. You used to fight for someone else, but now you fight for Sakura Kyouko. But it doesn't matter either way. Once you destroy what feeds a soul, who motivates it to fight the endless battle against the darkness that wants to consume it, there is no going back._]

That said, Tayoshi pulled out a dagger and slashed through Kyouko's still form. The redhead's body exploded into a mass of deep purple fumes, shimmering brilliantly in the crimson lunar light. It was the telltale sign of soul purification, except now she was losing her purity.

Homura's breath caught in her throat when a small plain sparked in her chest. It was just a pinprick, really, but it wasn't going away, instead staying there and brooding like a festering cancer.

Tayoshi clapped her hands together, and suddenly they were looking at a different scene, another memory.

Homura opened her eyes and saw herself sharing a big bowl of food with Kyouko. The two of them were laughing about something she couldn't remember, but they both looked happy. Herself in particular. When had she started feeling that way?

She never got the answer, though, because the dagger tore that memory apart, too.

The pain increased in magnitude as it did, and Homura finally understood. Tayoshi would slowly tear down the love and caring she had built around her tender soul, until there was nothing left but a shivering husk, and she could only watch.

[_I can see that you love her dearly,_] Tayoshi's breath rasped into her subconscious; the girl sounded tired. [_I understand. I love my friends too. Even more strongly than you do, or ever could. I don't expect you to empathize with me. You would be a fool to do so. But you must realize that all conflicts are simply battles of love, and a matter of attrition. Those will the greatest passion will always win._]

Homura staggered as Kyouko was cut apart just before telling her an amusing story. The pain doubled in her chest and she staggered, falling to the floor like an upended statue. She glared with gritted teeth through the film of her hair as Kyouko was continuously kept from giving Homura that one small gift, bowing her head in remorse when Homura reprimanded her for cleaning out the pantry again, smiling when she said something sarcastic in response. Tayoshi's blade cut away all these memories, and in was in this moment of loss that Homura finally realized their true value. These memories were her life. They _were_ her.

A moment later, she saw an icy scene in the middle of a frozen lake.

The dagger plunged between Kyouko's lips and her own, and that one fateful embrace never happened.

_Stop it, stop it! _Homura's head jerked and she cried out in agony when that particular memory was severed, her brain steaming with the need to writhe and thrash to express her pain, but frustratingly withheld by her own body. She was losing her mind. Exhaling loudly, she ground her chin into the colorless floor and burned her eyes in Tayoshi, who was facing away from her to watch the purple smoke dissipate.

Then the scene shifted one final time, but Homura was too dazed to discern which memory it was at first; the splitting pain in her heart was crushing now, as she could barely breathe without wanting to close her eyes and weep as the darkness took her. But some sort of morbid curiosity overtook her, and she forced herself to open her eyes, wanting to know what precious figment of her personality she was about to lose.

The two of them were sitting in front of a fire, in a house that was not hers.

"No!" Homura yelled, not even stopping to realize that she was suddenly able to speak. Tayoshi smiled back at her and approached Kyouko slowly, her dagger glinting in the dying light of the fire. Homura screeched something unintelligible and thrashed her head around even more vigorously, screaming obscenities with her mind. [_No, leave her alone! Leave Kyouko alone!_] Every fiber of her being was roaring for Kyouko to move, to _run_, but there was nothing the redhead could ever do. She was just a figment of Homura's memory, an anchor for the shield user's rapidly dwindling sanity.

But Tayoshi didn't turn back around, didn't so much as pause. She only took another step forward and came closer to sending Homura over the edge, but she knew, the time traveler knew that once this part of her heart was destroyed, her soul would succumb to the everlasting darkness.

Closing her eyes, Homura felt the beginnings of tears spilling out of her eyes. How long had it been since she last cried? Her mind instinctively wandered back, combing its way through her ravaged brain, and it was then that it happened upon another memory.

_One day, we'll have plenty of reasons to fight for each other._

_I'm sorry, Kyouko,_ Homura thought, feeling the tear tear _plink_ in front of her face beyond her closed eyelids. _I didn't mean for things to turn out like this. I'm so sorry..._

"Well, do something about it, then!"

Homura's mind flinched when another memory resurfaced, this time a bad one. The two of them had been fighting about something. What about, she did not remember, but she did know that she had ended up losing the argument. She had offered a lame apology, but Kyouko hadn't been satisfied with it.

"Do something about it!" Kyouko repeated, arms crossed over her chest. "Saying sorry changes nothing. You have to make things happen if you want to change!"

_And how do you suggest I do that, Kyouko?_ Homura thought tiredly, her eyelids feeling heavier by the second. She would be dead any moment, now. _How do you expect me to get out of this?_

"Strength of will!"

Homura's eyes opened.

[_Tell me, Akemi Homura,_] Tayoshi murmured, as she stood over Kyouko's hunched body. [_Why do you care for her so much?_]

Why? Well, that was obvious...she had no idea. There was no real "reason"; no constitution she could pull out of her pocket and reread once in a while to remind herself of the rules. She didn't know how one could put such political restrictions on a relationship between people. But why, then? She didn't know. Because she was herself, and Kyouko was Kyouko. She didn't really need a definite reason, did she? Wasn't caring enough?

_Strength of will._

Homura felt like laughing then, and she actually did smile to herself a little. Logic had failed her yet again. All the signs told her that resistance was futile, that she was never going to see the sun again, and thusly it was prudent for her to simply accept her fate. But Homura knew that she couldn't do that.

If she didn't need a reason to care, why should she need a reason to fight?

Homura's hand twitched.

Tayoshi wasn't paying attention, instead regripping her dagger and licking her lips nervously. [_I mean no personal hostility towards you by doing this, Homura,_] The Acolyte said. [_But my friends must come before yours._]

Her entire arm moved this time, and she used it to push herself off the ground, trying to stagger to her feet as quietly as possible.

[_I'm not the kind of person who wants to do this,_] Tayoshi continued, her face twisted with an odd mixture of fear and childish naiveté. [_I'm a good person, I swear. But even the greatest of people can be driven to do evil._]

Homura rose to one leg, swaying precariously before regaining her balance. Her strength was returning to her, however, slowly. Her Soul Gem was flaring with a renewed brilliance, and she clutched it tightly in her hand before taking her first steps forward, beginning to close the gap between herself and Tayoshi.

[_Maybe, if I'd had more time, I would have told you the story,_] The Acolyte said, her voice trembling, the knife point shaking erratically. [_Maybe then, you would have understood, and you wouldn't hate me for having to do this. Maybe then. Just maybe..._] Then she shook her head. [_Or maybe it wouldn't make a difference at all. Perhaps we are destined to hate certain people, and love others. At least I can discern between the two._]

She looked down at Kyouko one last time, and raised her dagger.

[_Goodbye, Akemi Homura._]

"Not just yet," Homura growled, before tackling Tayoshi around the midsection.

The smaller girl lacked the weight necessary to maintain her balance, and the two of them went flying to the floor, away from the fire. She lost her grip on the dagger, the weapon skidding across the bottomless floor before sliding to a stop twenty feet away.

Homura knew she could waste no time. She had no shield, no weapons, and no guns. For the first time in a long while, she would have to get blood on her own hands.

Scrambling to her feet and lunging before Tayoshi could recover, Homura seized the Acolyte's Soul Gem.

And the world changed, once more.

* * *

><p>[<em>Everybody retreat! Get the fuck out of there!<em>]

It was the first time Mishki had sounded panicked on the general though channel, and the realization struck genuine fear in the rest of the girls. The line faltered, then broke as several of its members turned tail and fled from the wall of demons constantly marauding their defenses, trying to put ground between themselves and the enemy.

Kyouko bit back another curse as she cut through another swath of enemies, raising her head to survey the battle situation. It really had all gone to hell. Several factions had abandoned their individual posts to resolidify their position in the central chamber, but even that hadn't been enough. The demons simply kept coming, and even more poured in from the windows and doorways those factions had chosen to leave unguarded. The vast majority of them were now concentrated in this massive chamber, losing ground to the enemy step by painful step. The Radix had retreated back to the depths of the demon horde, having wrought enough damage already. The girls of Kazamino were now in full retreat; try to save as many lives as possible. The battle was lost.

But Kyouko kept running forward, even as dozens of girls streamed steadily towards the rear of the chamber. Homura was still out there somewhere, lost amongst the sea of blackness before her. She had to find her. Even if it meant getting herself killed, she had to find Homura before she even thought about running.

She cut through a final line of monsters, and saw her.

Homura and Tayoshi were laying, unconscious, side by side in the middle of the chamber. The Acolyte had her sharp little teeth dug tightly into the time traveler's hand, which was bleeding steadily from a wound that could not close. Kagami was constantly spawning clones in a circle around them, working to keep the demons from killing the three of them.

Kyouko cursed as she approached the sphere of daggers that Kagami was wielding. How was she going to get through that many clones?

"Tiro Finale!"

Kagami started and looked up just in time to see Mami's massive projectile launching towards her. Showing her teeth, the girl consolidated her clones and formed a human meat shield with them, the soulless girls throwing themselves over the original three with wild abandon. The missile hit with a loud crack, sending smoking clones flying everywhere, the bodies shattering into magical discharges.

Clawing her way through the smoke, Kyouko realized that while the attack had been blocked, it had managed to open a big hole in the Acolyte's defenses, giving the redhead an opening to swoop in.

"Kyouko, go!" Mami commanded from behind her, already firing another row of muskets. A wave of fresh clones were quickly slain. "I'll hold her off!"

Leaning forward, Kyouko dashed forward and entered the human dome, falling to her knees and sliding to a stop in front of Homura's limp form. Casting her spear aside, she attempted to pick the time traveler up, but realized that Tayoshi's teeth were still lodged into the girl's arm. Desperately, she tried to kick the girl off, but the teeth held tight. They weren't held there by conventional means. That would mean unconventional solutions, then.

Bending down, she picked up both girls and prepared to run.

There was a screech from above her, and a clone was lunging for her neck. Kyouko flinched and tried to dodge, already knowing that she would be too slow.

One of Mami's bullets whizzed by and crushed the clone's skull, and the girl shattered into wisps of fire.

Grinning fiercely, Kyouko ran.

"No!" Kagami yelled, enraged that her prize was being snatched away. She abandoned her fight against the demons and attempted to pursue Kyouko, but found herself beat back by another wave of golden bullets. She threw her hands above her head and sacrificed another batch of clones to soak up the attack, but it was apparent that she wouldn't be going anywhere. Kagami's advantage in numbers meant nothing at long range, where Mami could unload as much suppressive fire as she wished.

Kyouko had just run past Mami and was about to shout for the blonde to follow, when something tall and heavy streaked in through a window and landed in front of her, cracking the granite beneath her feet.

Skidding to a stop, Kyouko narrowly avoided colliding with Thalia.

"Give her back!" The tank snarled, swiping for Tayoshi's body. Kyouko used her momentum to duck under the blow and slid to the side, gaining some much needed distance. Moving quickly, Kyouko dumped her cargo behind Mami before summoning her spear again, taking up a defensive stance in front of Homura. Now the two unconscious girls lay between her and Mami. It was the safest place in this building, probably.

"Give her back!" Thalia roared again, and this time she sounded desperate. The girl's clothes were torn, and she was bleeding from one ear. "If _anything_ happens to her, I'm gonna have your head!"

"If you want her so bad," Kyouko growled back, readying her spear,

"Then come and take her from me."

This was bad. She and Mami were the only ones left out here now; the rest of the girls had fled to the rear of the chamber by now, climbing over massive piles of wooden debris in their haste to escape. Soon enough the demons would realize they were alone, and target them. Mami wouldn't be able to hold them back with suppressive fire for very long. This fight had to be brief, and to the point.

Thalia showed her teeth, and charged.

* * *

><p>"<em>Stop asking so many stupid questions!"<em>

Homura blinked when the silver haired girl standing in front of her seemed to be speaking to her, but quickly realized that the words were directed towards someone standing behind her.

Turning, she looked down and laid her eyes on Tayoshi.

She really did look younger, Homura thought, as she took in the girl's diminutive form. But it wasn't just physical appearance that had removed the mar of time. There was something simpler about this version of the Acolyte, something pure, unadulterated.

As she watched, the younger Tayoshi bore a hurt expression.

_"__I'm just trying to understand all of this, is all! You can't expect me to just accept what's going on without saying anything."_

_"__Some things about this are not very easy to explain."_

_"__Then you never should have told me about this!"_

_"__I didn't! You're the one who walked in on us when we were transforming!"_

The silver haired girl, who Homura suddenly realized was Thalia, seemed ready to blow a gasket. Tayoshi also seemed to recognize this, and took a small step back, raising her hands before her.

_"__Calm down, Thalia. I'm not trying to be a nuisance, I swear. I just...I just want to understand, you know?"_

Thalia sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, the stress evident in her eyes.

_"__Sometimes understanding is the worst part of it._"

The scene abruptly shifted then, and the gray walls that had been encasing them blurred away to be replaced by a crimson sky. It was the height of sunset in the city, and before Homura stood a long bridge, one of the many that extended far into the sea. Tayoshi was sitting beside another, slightly taller girl, whom Homura identified as Kagami.

_"__I just want to help out, you know?"_ Tayoshi said irritably, kicking at a stray pebble. _"Thalia doesn't understand. She thinks I'm in it for the _fun_. I know this is not laughing matter. You guys are fighting demons! What's to laugh about in that? I understand that this is potentially life threatening...but I don't care. Do you know how worried I get sometimes, knowing that the three of you are out there, risking your lives every single night?"_

Kagami smiled uneasily and looked back over the sea, seeming to collect her thoughts. _"You were never supposed to find out about us, Tayoshi. We tried our best to keep this magical girl business a secret from you. Not out of spite, mind you, but consideration. It isn't an easy world that we've been thrust into. We'll do whatever we can to keep you from joining us, anything that is within our ability. Because we care about you."_

_"__Because you don't trust me,"_ Tayoshi corrected, crossing her arms.

Kagami stared at her. _"This isn't a matter of trust. Trust doesn't exist in our world. It's either kill or be killed. Do you really think you can live like that, for the rest of your life? You're a happy person, Tayoshi. You're content. Is any one wish really worth throwing all that away?"_

The smaller girl raised her chin defiantly, and Homura saw a small glimmer of the twisted being she would later become.

_"__Maybe. It's definitely possible. And I'm not afraid to say that."_

Kagami smiled wanly before shaking her head.

_"__You sound like an Incubator..."_

A thought occurred to Homura then, one that should have made itself apparent sooner; if Tayoshi could destroy her memories, who was to say Homura couldn't do the same? If the Acolyte was going to tear her soul wide open, she would have to open her own soul to complete the process. Tayoshi was as vulnerable now as she had been.

She attempted to reach out and touch Kagami's likeness, but the girl's form whirled into nothing before she could, and the scene changed again.

_"__That's it. That is the _last_ time we let you tag along when we go hunting!" _Thalia was yelling something again, this time inside of an empty classroom. Tayoshi and Kagami both flinched when the silver haired girl slammed her fist into a desk, making the wood rattle. Famira was watching from the corner, her face as impassive as ever.

_"__Calm down, Thalia,"_ Kagami said sternly. _"You'll get us heard."_

_"__I'm sorry," _Tayoshi said meekly, staring at her own shoes. _"I was just curious to see-"_

_"__I don't care how damn curious you were!" _Thalia bellowed, slamming the table again. _"You damn near got us all killed! There's a reason why I never wanted you to come along, and this is it. It was a mistake telling you about us to begin with, but now you keep wanting to know more. Christ, if something happened to you, Tayoshi, I...I wouldn't..."_

_"__I'm sorry!"_ Tayoshi shouted this time, bowing her head. _"But I couldn't help myself! You've been drifting away from me, Thalia. All of you, actually. I've felt for a while now that there's something standing between us, and it's keeping up from talking to each other like we used to. And I know what it is. It's this goddam magic business! I just wanted to understand, Thalia, so that maybe we could...again..."_

Tayoshi began to cry then, and Thalia and Kagami exchanged guilty glances.

_"__Okay, Tayoshi,"_ Thalia sighed, leaning down to wipe the tears away from the girl's eyes. _"I'll forgive you this time. Don't cry. But don't ever try anything like that again._"

Smoke engulfed the classroom, suffocating the image. When Homura blinked away the veil, she was somewhere else.

It was a cold, empty room. The blank walls were silent and unassuming, and the floor was cold beneath her feet. Nothing in the room was paying any attention to her, but this only gave Homura the sensation that she wasn't supposed to be here.

Tayoshi was sitting against the windowsill, staring out at the decaying city below.

Homura stared at the girl's solemn teardrop face, and realized that she had no idea what the Acolyte's actual age was. She could be a thousand years old, for all she knew. But here, she looked so staggeringly young, just a speck of dirt before a world that cared nothing for her. She looked ostensibly alone, sitting there curled against the frigid window, hugged only by the shadows that had shunned her.

_"__Aren't you going to go after them?"_ An alien voice, and Homura finally noticed the Incubator sitting in the corner, its bloodred eyes the only part of its anatomy that she could discern. Something told her it wasn't Kyubey. In fact, she was sure of it.

Tayoshi shifted nervously, her bare feet pulling themselves closer to her body. _"Thalia told me not to get in the way anymore. And she's right. Being ignorant is better than getting one of them killed."_

The moon was an ethereal orb in the sky; the Incubator lashed its tail. _"As I have told you many times before, that you have the strength to become one of them. Then you would no longer feel so isolated."_

_"__Kagami told me you would say things like that to me,"_ Tayoshi replied, still not looking away from the window. Homura thought she saw flashes of magic in the distant boroughs, and knew that the original Acolytes were out hunting again. _"She told me no amount of passion is worth my soul. And lately, I've been thinking that she's right. None of them look happy anymore. They all look like they're carrying something heavy on their shoulders, and it's crushing them, bit by bit."_

_"__But how could you understand?" _The Incubator said satirically, lowering itself to the floor. _"You aren't one of them, are you? You're different. You're human."_

_"__Are you asking me to throw away my humanity?"_ Tayoshi asked, a bit of anger creeping into her voice. A flare of magic arced over the sky again, lighting the sky up a brilliant silver. _"Thalia told me to trust her. They'll be fine. Whether they're human or not, whether I'm human or not, I'll always support them. I won't lose anyone anymore. That's what she promised..."_

The alien seemed almost to smile, its ears twitching in amusement. _"Your parents promised too. What about them?"_

Tayoshi flinched and clutched at the fabric of her shirt, bunching up the material in her fist. _"You don't know anything about me. Don't mention them."_

_"__If you insist," _The Incubator said, sounding aloof. _"It's fine to trust others to make your dreams come true, but it is even better to take those dreams in your own hands. If you would only listen, you wouldn't have to lose someone ever again."_

This Incubator was a little more sadistic than Kyubey was, Homura decided, as the vision twisted and morphed into another. Kyubey's methods had never been so openly manipulative, or sneering. This particular alien seemed more wholly evil, more imbued, ironically, with a human spirit.

The smoke drifted apart again, and Homura laid her eyes on a warzone.

As she blinked, one of Kagami's clones flew, flaming past her head. The body crashed into a building and shattered, leaving behind smoldering crumbs of fire. There was a rush of wind as Famira jetted by overhead, and a dull screech filled the air as the small army of demons surrounding them raised their heads and groaned.

_"__Tayoshi! What the hell are you doing here!"_

Turning, Homura saw the girl's frail silhouette atop a nearby building, her chest heaving with exertion. The Incubator was perched on her shoulder, smiling smugly to itself.

[_I told her you were stuck in a little predicament,_] The Incubator confessed readily, its tail waving in the wind.

_"__Dammit, you lying little rat, I told you not to do this!"_ Thalia shouted, even as another demon struck her across the chest and sent her flying back.

Tayoshi gasped and reached out for the strong girl, but she was too far, much beyond her reach. She could only watch as Thalia dragged herself back up and leapt into the horde again, this time to dig Kagami out of a mountain of demons.

_"__Remember, you have to power to stop this,"_ The Incubator said, gripping Tayoshi's shoulder. _"Not all wishes are born equal. Theirs might not be worth their souls, but yours very well might be."_

The fourth Acolyte stared down at the battle raging below her, face fraught with indecision. Kagami's words and the Incubator's seemed to war across her countenance, and for a moment Homura doubted what she knew to be the truth.

_"__I'm sorry, Kagami,"_ She said at last, stepping away from the edge of the building.

_"__Tayoshi, no!" _The illusionist bellowed, reached out with one arm past a wall of demons, but her hand was quickly beaten back by a set of claws.

_"__You're making the right choice,"_ The Incubator assured her, leaping down to the roof and standing before her. _"Your wish will be as powerful as your will."_

_"__Shut up," _Tayoshi growled. _"Just tell me what I have to do."_

_"__Tayoshi, what is your wish?"_

_"__I-"_

"Stop looking at me!" A voice screeched, and suddenly Tayoshi, the _real_ Tayoshi, was crashing through the smoke. The girl lunged and knocked Homura down to the burning floor, hands scrabbling at her face.

"Don't look at me! Stop it!"

Homura gritted her teeth and tried to shove the girl off her person, the Acolyte's hands swiping desperately at the time traveler's Soul Gem. If she let Tayoshi gain control of this soul walking again, there was no telling what would happen. They struggled on the floor for a brief moment, and as they did, the Tayoshi of memory made her wish.

The real Tayoshi's hand was about to close around Homura's Soul Gem when light engulfed them, and the scene was changed once more.

They were in the empty classroom again, but this time the sun had already set, and it was raining. Moody drops rattled the windowpanes as the four Acolytes stood in a loose circle, all attention focused on the smallest of them, who stood in the middle.

_"__I told you not to do it,"_ Thalia said, shaking with anger. _"We all warned you, countless times. And you still went ahead and made a wish. Are you crazy? Falling for the rat's trap like that, I thought-"_

_"__Calm down, Thalia,"_ Famira said tonelessly. _"There's nothing we can do about it now."_

_"__I did it because I wanted to," _Tayoshi replied defiantly, her head raised high. There was a confidence to her voice that she hadn't had before. _"The Incubator didn't trick me into doing anything. It was entirely my choice, and I'm not afraid to say that."_

Thalia bared her teeth and started advancing towards the smaller girl, but Kagami held her back.

Homura observed the memory with morbid fascination. So this was who Tayoshi and the Acolytes were. She had never really stopped to ponder on the idea, but these four girls were friends too. They all cared for one another, to point that some of them would resort to violence is necessary. They were human beings, as human as she and Kyouko were, but circumstance had painted them as villains. They all felt love, and they all felt hate. Even when she thought about it logically, she couldn't blame Tayoshi for wanting to protect her friends.

As Kagami whispered fiercely into Thalia's ear, Homura turned to observe the Tayoshi in this memory, who had shrunk back against the wall. She walked over and stood just behind the girl, raising one hand and dropping it again. Could she really do something like this? Could she crush a figment of someone's soul, even if it was to save her own life? She thought about everything she had done until now, all the moral sacrifices she had made. She had gone so far for lives that were not her own before. In technicality, she should have no qualms about doing this. But her mind kept thinking back to the pain she had felt just a moment ago, the agony of feeling your love and treasures being torn away.

She didn't know if she could do that to another person.

Homura's fingers twitched, and suddenly a small gun was sitting in her hand, as if deposited there. She looked down at it in surprise, knowing that she hadn't been the one to summon it. Was this her dagger? Turning the weapon over in her hand as Thalia continued to struggle with Kagami, Homura raised it and pointed it gingerly at Tayoshi's temple.

She couldn't do it. Her hand shook, and the sights wobbled. They were right. She had gotten soft. Maybe, in the past, she would have been able to squeeze the trigger without a second thought. But now that she understood what it meant to love someone, the action of destruction had become that much harder to carry out.

Then footsteps thundered towards them from down the hall, and the real Tayoshi threw the door open.

"Get away from her!" The Acolyte bellowed, crashing through the rows of desks to reach them.

Panicking, Homura changed the direction of her pistol and aimed for the legs instead, instinctively pulling the trigger.

It turned out that damage control was not an option. The bullet whizzed through Tayoshi's leg, and the girl erupted into a column of black flames, scorching the roof above them.

The real Tayoshi gasped and tripped over a desk, crashing to the floor before clutching at her chest. Homura stared in shock as the Acolyte curled herself into a fetal position, obviously battling the same pain that she herself had experienced.

Before she could think about what to do next, the smoke came again.

_"__Follow my lead!" _Tayoshi commanded as she leapt into another knot of demons, cutting them down with terrifying precision. Kagami and Famira both grumbled and followed her off the rooftop, but Thalia stayed behind, staring hard into Tayoshi's receding back.

_"__What happened to you, Tayoshi?"_ The tank said aloud, looking at her shoes. _"When did you become to strongest out of all of us? I thought...that I was going to be the one protecting you."_

The door to the roof crashed open, and Homura saw Tayoshi running across the rooftop at her, eyes blazing with fear and hatred.

Wasting less time the second time around, Homura fired another bullet into Thalia's leg.

The silver haired girl exploded into more flames, and Tayoshi staggered again, falling flat on her face onto the concrete.

_So this is how it has to be,_ Homura thought as her vision blurred, and the setting was altered. _For one of us to live, the other has to decay._ If she was going to survive, she would have to crush Tayoshi's soul, piece by piece, just as the Acolyte had planned to do to her.

It was wrong. It was inhumane. And if she really ended up living to see the next sunrise, it was going to eat at her conscience until the very day she died. Eating another person's soul was something that she would never be able to justify, no matter how much good she did in the world.

But if it was for the people she loved, she could live with it.

The next memory revealed itself to her, and this time she didn't hesitate; a quick round found Kagami's skull, and she heard Tayoshi scream behind her.

She couldn't remember many of the memories that played back after that. She didn't want to remember. It was easier that way, to simply drop in and open fire, before waiting for the scene to change. Waiting, observing, learning what the memory meant to Tayoshi...that would only make things harder. Better to keep it impersonal, and not think about the consequences.

The changes were slow, but over time Homura knew that she was making progress. Tayoshi's movements became increasingly sluggish, and soon enough the girl wasn't even fast enough to find her before the fateful bullet destroyed another memory.

As another shot shook her arm, Homura felt something wet splash against her chin. Reaching up to dab at her face as the smoke returned over her vision, she realized that they were tears. She was crying. That was odd; her expression hadn't changed, but her eyes were leaking rivulets, and she couldn't stop it for the life of her.

Tayoshi actually managed to reach Homura before the next shot, but it didn't matter. Famira collapsed to the floor in front of her, and the scene changed.

This time, Homura knew where they were.

It was an old warehouse, an abandoned one. The air inside the ancient brick walls was cold and stale, as if something had died within the premises and had never been discovered, or mourned over. She knew this place. She knew it well. It was where the nightmares had begun, spawned from the seeds of a pure dream.

She looked down at a pile of rubble sitting by her feet, and saw the Radix sitting there, pulsing gently in the moonlight.

It was puny. Just a small splash of black despair, sprayed across the rock like the excrement of some great beast, but it was still very much alive. This was much earlier, she realized, long before she would happen across this warehouse herself, and confront the bloodied form of Madoka Kaname. The Radix was but a seed at this point, a bud struggling to grow, and grow it would, unless she did something about it.

Homura was about to reload when a voice spoke behind her.

"Pretty, isn't it?"

Turning slowly, she saw Tayoshi laying on the cold warehouse floor, too exhausted to move. The Acolyte laid there like a limp doll, her eyes the only part of her body that had any energy left.

"No," Homura said solemnly, reloading her weapon. The sound of the magazine clicked in the empty warehouse, and the sound echoed for miles inside of them. "I find it detestable."

Tayoshi smiled, her finger twitching once before going still again. "That's unfortunate. I can't help but find it beautiful. It was bred from my own wish, after all. It _is_ me. And I've always been an arrogant little bastard."

Homura turned away from her and looked back at the blackness on the rocks. It was dead silent in the warehouse, and the moon shown down on them through a hole in the roof. It was just the three of them, Tayoshi, the Radix, and herself, standing among the halls of a great black emptiness, where conscience and feeling meant nothing.

Homura was glad for that, because what she was about to do could never be forgiven.

"Tell me," She said, pulling back on her pistol with a resounding _click._ "If I kill this thing, right now, what will happen to you?"

Tayoshi smirked, her eyes dancing. "I will die, Akemi Homura. Your soul will devour mine, along with all the ones I have consumed in the past. You'll become just like me, in a way, except even worse. Because you'll have eaten more than me."

Homura stared for a little longer, not yet raising her arm. "And you're fine with that?"

"If I say no, will you spare me?" Tayoshi asked sardonically, prompting the shield user to look back at her. After a moment, Homura shook her head, and the Acolyte scoffed knowingly. "Exactly."

Homura gritted her teeth. "And that's just it? You're going to give up so easily? After everything you've done until now?"

"Everything until now was for my friends," Tayoshi said, her voice trailing off into the dust. "You might understand what I mean by that, or maybe not. But it is the truth, and I'm not afraid to say it...even if I were to successfully take your soul, I cannot guarantee that we will all escape the Church alive. The Radix knows where I am, now. We would never get away."

"Then why even try?" Homura shot back, turning away from the fledgling Radix to face the girl fully. "Why come back? You should have run away, and never thought about returning. You could have been safe then. You could have kept running and lived out the rest of your life. Why come back and throw that all away?"

Tayoshi laughed at her, the girl's face plastered into the debris littered floor. "Didn't I already tell you? I'm _dying_. The reason that I had you brought here, the whole _point_, was for me to use your magic to extend my life. Even if I had run, how long would I have lasted? A month? A year? No. Coming back, and taking the chance of death, was a gamble I was willing to take if it meant I could spend just a little more time here, among the only people I have left."

Homura inhaled sharply and clenched her hand around the gun, her arm shaking. "Then it was a poor gamble to make."

The Acolyte laughed again, the sound barking harshly at her ears. "A poor gamble? My whole _life_ was a gamble. So is yours; all of us. Being so naive, so _stupid_, as to lay down your life as the price of having just a single wish fulfilled...now, that's a poor gamble. And I am no fool; I knew every since the day I made my wish that I was making a terrible mistake."

Homura narrowed her eyes. "Then why do it?"

Tayoshi looked up and met her, not a shred of remorse in her eyes.

"Because I loved them. All of them. And I still do."

_Why am I arguing?_ _She's right, _Homura thought, as she turned away from her and faced the Radix again. _I can't judge her motivations._

_After all, they are the same as mine._

She raised her arm and aimed at the center of the black mass, but Tayoshi called out to her again.

"I want you to promise me something, Akemi Homura," She said, lifting her head a fraction for emphasis.

The time traveler looked behind her, eyes filled with sympathy. "Yes?"

"I want you to make sure the others are unharmed," Tayoshi said. "Kagami, Thalia, Famira, all of them. For accepting my death with grace, that is the one thing I ask in return. Just...just let them live.

"I wish for nothing more."

Homura stared at her, and in that moment she felt profoundly impressed by this girl. They might both be fighting to protect their friends, but Tayoshi was infinitely more selfless. Giving up her own life meant nothing, as long as the she cared for were protected. Homura felt hopelessly selfish in comparison, because she only wanted to be by Kyouko's side. She factored in her own happiness; Tayoshi did not.

"I thought your wish was to be remembered forever?" Homura asked, tilting her head. For some reason, she didn't feel cruel for asking the question.

Tayoshi smiled gently back, shaking her head ever so slightly.

"Remembered by them. Just them. That's enough for me."

Homura smiled. "Seems like you could have taught me a few things."

"In another life," Tayoshi promised, moving her head so that she looked up at the sky, at the timeless moon shining down on them. "Now go."

Nodding gracefully, Homura faced the Radix once more, and readied her weapon.

_Maybe if things had been different, we could have been friends,_ She thought. The idea was unlike her, but she was content with having it.

[_Friends understand each other. And I think we've already achieved that._]

Homura smiled as Tayoshi's final thought slipped into her mind, and she prepared to pull the trigger.

[_Goodbye, Tayoshi._]

There was a loud crack as Homura fired, and the fourth Acolyte's eyes closed.

* * *

><p>[<em>Kyouko, you both need to get out of there, now!<em>]

Homura gasped and flopped as the air finally returned to her lungs, her chest expanding with a rush as her eyes opened to take in the chaos surrounding her. She saw a multitude of girls crowding at the rear of the chamber through the corner of her eye, and a moment later she registered Kyouko, the redhead locking fiercely with Thalia. Then a blinding light erupted from below her, and Homura looked down.

Her Soul Gem was exploding with all the colors of the rainbow, covering her hand in multifaceted light.

As she was fascinated by this new development, she saw Thalia flinch backwards. Kyouko had faked a strike with her spear, but had followed through with a right hook instead. The tank's heel hit a fallen shard of wood and she tripped, falling into a small mountain of debris that quickly swallowed her, legs and all.

Kyouko was about to go after her when something roared to her left.

Turning, she was dismayed to see the Radix rising from the legions of demons once again, its shapeless form surrounded by a veil of black clouds. As the redhead watched, the anomaly leapt forward and took on a human form, instantly sprouting a mane of pink hair and bloodied, empty eyes.

It began to run towards them.

_Shit. _She didn't have time to worry about Thalia anymore. They all had to get out of here, _now._ Kneeling, she scooped Homura's still limp form up. Surprisingly enough, Tayoshi's jaws seemed to have gone slack, because the girl's body slumped back down to the ground. Kyouko paused, for a moment considering just leaving her there, but decided against it.

"Mami, we're getting out of here!" Kyouko shouted, getting the blonde's attention. She was still holding Kagami back, but the illusionist was starting to gain ground, and Mami was running out of energy. "Grab the other girl. We have to run!"

The blonde frowned angrily, seemingly reluctant to simply abandon the fight, but she knew it was pointless to continue. She would be overwhelmed if she stayed her. Firing a last wave of muskets in Kagami's general direction, she turned and snatched Tayoshi up, and the two of them began sprinting in the opposite direction.

They passed a dazed Thalia as they ran, but Kyouko knew they couldn't afford to stop and help them. Tayoshi was unconscious, and couldn't run. But Thalia and Kagami were not, so they were left to fend for themselves.

Just then, Tayoshi's eyes flew open, and she began thrashing in Mami's grip.

"Ah!" The blonde said in surprise as the girl in her arms began kicking violently. "What are you - hey!" The Acolyte wiggled her way out of Mami's grip and fell to the floor, before leaping up and dashing back the way they had come, to where Kagami was desperate trying to dig Thalia out of the rubble.

"Hey! Come back-" Mami started to yell, but Kyouko grabbed her.

"We don't have time!" The redhead insisted, pulling at the blonde to follow her. "Besides, I saw her Soul Gem. She's five minutes from being taken by the Cycle. We need to hurry!"

Mami threw one last glance at Tayoshi's sprinting form, then turned away.

"Come _on!" _Kagami almost sobbed, tearing at the thick planks of wood that were encasing Thalia's body. Kyouko must have clocked the strong girl a good one, because Thalia still hadn't recovered from her daze, a dark red bruise forming on her temple. She had a few clones formed to help her dig, but she was magically spent after her battle of attrition with Mami. This was all the help she was going to get.

Thalia groaned from beneath the rubble, meaning that she was close to coming to. Kagami gritted her teeth and dug faster, tearing her nails open on the sharp plywood, but she didn't care. She was _not_ leaving Thalia here to die.

Behind her, the Radix was still charging for them, leading the depleted, but still strong back of demons behind it. In ten seconds it would be upon them; she supposed they were lucky that it was such a large hall. All the other girls had already fled deep into the recesses of the Church, and though she knew they wouldn't exactly welcome her, it was better than having the demons to keep her company.

"Kagami!"

The illusionist looked up and was shocked to see Tayoshi racing across the chamber towards them, her bare feet bleeding from stepping on raw debris. The smaller girl slid to a stop in front of her, and immediately began to dig as well, working to pull Thalia out of her prison.

"Tayoshi..." Kagami murmured, still stunned. "Your Soul Gem..."

"There's no time to be sitting there!" Tayoshi snarled, grabbing Kagami's hands and urging her to help. "We need to get Thalia out of here!"

The illusionist blinked and resumed her digging, but she still couldn't get the image of Tayoshi's Soul Gem out of her mind, or the despair that was choking it. It had been a long time since she had last seen it, but she would never forget what it meant.

The girl's soul was about to die.

There was a gasping sound from below them, and suddenly the rubble was blown aside as Thalia finally regained consciousness. The tank coughed and choked as she climbed out of the wooden prison she had found herself in, and Kagami wanted to hug the girl and cry.

Luckily, Tayoshi was still there to direct them. "No time to rest. We need to go," She urged, yanking Thalia up and pushing her forward. "Run. Run!"

Thalia, who still had no idea where her bearings were, nodding and began to sprint nonetheless. The Radix screeched behind them when it realized its prey was getting away, as Kagami and Tayoshi both stood up and began to flee as well.

_But why am I running?_ Tayoshi thought, as another nail tore at her feet, as Kagami staggered but regained her balance, as Thalia struggled to keep up with them. Her clothes were singed, she was bleeding everywhere, and she could hardly see past the thick clouds of despair covering her soul. Why was she still running? It would be easier, so much easier, to just give up and lay down on the floor here, and let the Radix eat her soul. She was going to die anyway. Why run?

Of course, she already knew the answer. Because even if it meant facing oblivion, even if it meant running from a horde of demons when her legs just wanted to give out, she wanted to spend as much time by her friends as she could. A foolish constitution, maybe, and probably more than a little childish. But it was what she believed in, and it was all she had left.

A girl who was not willing to die for her beliefs was not fit to live.

"Damn," Mishki murmured from her perch on the balcony, as she observed the Acolytes running for their lives. "I...I feel kind of sorry for them."

"We can't go back for them," Seiyaku reminded her, already turning away from the railing. "This battle is lost. Maybe we'll regroup, someday far from today. But for now we have to flee."

"I know," Mishki replied pointedly, turning away from the balcony herself.

"But that doesn't mean I can't mourn."

_"_Shouldn't we help them, somehow?" Mami said uncertainly, as she and Kyouko at last caught up with the last of the retreating column of girls. They were in the safe, at least for now, but they were already feeling the sting of defeat.

"Sometimes we have to choose between lives," Kyouko replied, her face grave as she watched the three Acolytes struggling towards them, the Radix gaining with every step. "Sometimes there's nothing a person can do."

Mami suppressed bitter tears as she forced herself to look away. "If only there was a universal answer to every one of life's questions..."

"Strength of will."

Kyouko blinked.

Homura's voice wheezed as she let out a rattling breath, and for the first time the redhead noticed the dazzling array of colors erupting from the time traveler's Soul Gem, as if the stone had manifested itself within a prism. She began to struggle in Kyouko's grip, and the redhead instinctively let her go, and Homura wobbled her way back up to her own two feet.

"Homura!" Mami exclaimed, rushing forward to support her. "Are you alright?"

But the shield user waved her off, and her eyes were filled with something very different from pain. "No running, Mami. Not today. Kyouko is right; sometimes there is nothing that can be done."

She raised her left hand, and her signature bow materialized itself into her grip.

"Today is not one of those days."

Two angelic wings erupted from her back, and Akemi Homura blasted back the way they came, screaming across the ravaged chamber floor towards the Radix.

"What...HOMURA!" Kyouko screamed, tearing after the girl, and for once Mami didn't stop her. The two of them broke off from the main group and ran back towards the demons, trying desperately to catch up to the girl, but Homura was too fast.

The time traveler's eyes narrowed as she observed the battlefield she was about to enter. She would only have time for one shot; if she missed, the Radix would catch up to the Acolytes before she could fire again.

Throwing up her wings and grinding to a halt midair, Homura raised her bow, summoning a single arrow.

Her Soul Gem hummed in response, and the bolt that appeared in her hand looked different than normal; it sang with all the colors of the rainbow, and it threw off waves of magic like a powerful beacon. It was not a product of her own magic, but of many others, of the dozens of girls whose souls Tayoshi had devoured, all those nameless girls who had been trapped inside the girl's body in endless purgatory. Homura had felt it from the moment her eyes had opened; the souls of twenty six girls clamoring inside her heart, shoving at her soul so that it almost burst at the seams.

She concentrated that energy into a single arrow, and when she drew the bolt back on her bow, she felt twenty six souls cry out in unison.

The Radix looked up and noticed Homura hanging in the air like an angelic messenger, and its priorities changed. Letting one last, soul-shredding roar, the anomaly that had cause them all such grief leapt into the air, its face assuming a warped likeness of both Madoka Kaname and Kyouko Sakura, one crimson eye, the other pink, summoning a black hearted bow and drawing a spear tipped arrow.

Homura remained unfazed, and simply tracked her target as it moved, waiting for the right moment.

The Radix shrieked and released one black arrow, the dark bolt heading straight for her heart.

At the same time, Homura let her arrow fly.

And a blinding, iridescent light enveloped the Church.

* * *

><p>When Homura woke up, it was quiet.<p>

Her eyes were dead as she stared up at the desolated ceiling, taking in the rafters that had been splintered beyond repair. She heard no sound from them. Closing her eyes again, she forced her sluggish mind to focus, but even then there was no sound. It seemed that a great hand had reached out and muffled everything, drowning her inside of this palpable, endless, silence.

Then a cool wind blew through the open doors, and Homura heard the sound of tinkling glass. The wooden columns groaned softly around her. Her clothes ruffled and shifted about her person, and her hair tickled her ear. All evidence of life, all proof of existence. The sounds that proved she was still alive.

She was still alive, right?

Opening her eyes, Homura tried to move and found that for once, she could.

Sitting up, she took in the destruction around her.

The Sakura Church was decimated. A sea of broken glass littered to floor everywhere, and deep gouges ran along the length of the chamber floor. Scorch marks peppered the walls where magical shots had missed, and small spots of blood stained the wood where the demons hadn't. Columns were dented, railings were shattered, and there was a section of the chamber where the balcony had actually collapsed. Everything was totally wrecked.

Then the cool wind blew again, and it soothed her. Somehow, it would be alright.

She saw no sign of demons.

Someone coughed to her right.

It was Tayoshi.

The girl looked incredibly small laying there, surrounded by the ruins of the Church. The dark cloud that had settled over her soul was still there. Homura knew just by looking that the girl was about to die. There was no denying it. It was her own doing, after all.

Grunting softly, Homura dragged herself to where Tayoshi lay, stopped when she was close enough to reach out and touch the girl.

The Acolyte didn't open her eyes, but she spoke.

"Am I going to die now?"

Homura didn't see a point in lying.

"Yes."

Tayoshi smiled to herself behind her eyelids. "This isn't how I expected to go out."

Homura smiled wanly back. "That's...what they all say." Her voice was hoarse.

The Acolyte opened her eyes. "I guess this is it, then," She said, staring up at the rafters. "I'm going to die. I'm going to die..."

She closed her eyes again and began to silently cry, the tears leaking out slowly and staining the floor.

Homura stared dumbly at the girl for a moment, before blinking and realizing that she was also weeping. Why? She had known this would happen. She had pulled the trigger herself...

But that didn't matter, she thought, as she flopped back down and stared up at the ceiling with Tayoshi, both girls quietly crying. It didn't matter, because in the end, she hadn't wanted to kill her. She hadn't wanted to kill anybody. It was circumstance that had forced her hand; always circumstance. There was no choice; only circumstance.

There was no good or evil.

Only circumstance.

Homura closed her eyes and mourned, mourned the fact that Tayoshi could have lived, that she never would have become the soul eater she was, and this Church could have still stood proud. She mourned everything that could have been, but wasn't. It was the one thing about them, the puella magi, that she would never accept. She could come to terms with the violence. She could come to terms with the endless days of hunting, of a tunnel that had no light at its end.

But she could never come to terms with this. The way their own wishes always came back to destroy them...

It was the greatest crime she could imagine, and it was what she was.

"Say, Homura..." Tayoshi sighed suddenly, her voice rasping so quietly that the time traveler girl barely pick it up.

"...tell me a story."

Homura blinked away her tears and thought about it, when a spark of light pricked her eyes.

Raising her head, she saw that the sun was rising.

It had been a while since her last sunrise. The flaming orb in the sky climbed slowly out from below the horizon, and its rays bathed the Church before anywhere else. The light struck the sea of glass around them and refracted, scattering their illumination as if the stars had fallen from the sky. Homura stared in muted wonder at the little pinpricks of light surrounding them, and imagined that they were adrift in a big, fathomless ocean, where the water was calm and reflected nothing but the ephemeral stars, and they could all be at peace.

_Peace. _She thought about the word. Would they finally get to have it? The idea made her almost giddy. Then she remembered Tayoshi's request, and wondered how she could bring the girl peace, so that she may pass in comfort.

Only on thought occurred to her.

"Do you know what the Law of Cycles is?"

Tayoshi's strength was failing, but she shook her head, almost imperceptibly.

Homura couldn't help smiling to herself as she thought back. It had been a long time since she had told this story to anyone.

"Once there was a girl named Madoka Kaname..."

* * *

><p>Throughout history, many battles have razed the surface of the earth, but always the process of healing has followed.<p>

It happened at the Church too, however slowly.

It was a while yet until Kyouko regained consciousness and found that the army of demons had been eradicated, and by that time the Acolyte named Tayoshi had already passed from this world. As the redhead ran across the chamber to Homura's side, the rest of the girls slowly regained consciousness, one by one.

And so began the process of rebuilding. No one really understood how they had won; they only knew that victory had at last been achieved. They didn't understand that Homura had unleashed the might of twenty six souls in their purest form, swallowing up every last impure being within a three mile radius. They also didn't understand that such an act would take a massive toll on her body, so they could only whisper to each other when Homura didn't wake up the next day, or the day after that, or the day after that.

But they had other matters to attend to, first. Fifty eight girls had descended upon the Sakura Church just before the dawn of December 21st, and of those fifty eight, eleven had lost their lives to the Law of Cycles. Before they could rebuild anything, they had to mourn for those who had passed. The first day was spent in silent respect, in honor of those who were brave enough to die for the future. It was not something they could do while split into factions, and so during this time, the girls of Kazamino were one.

After that, there was much work to do, and they all carried it out solemnly. Several of the girls who had refused to risk their lives ended up coming around to the Church later, having given in to the curiosity regarding how the battle had turned out. Seiyaku had unceremoniously commanded them to help out with the rebuilding, and something about her manner forced them to accept.

Luckily, there were plenty among them who had restorative magic; the windows and doors were easily fixed, but the stone columns, the walls, and the wooden rafters were going to take some more time. Even more pressing was the need to keep civilian attention away from the general vicinity; the effects of their battle had not gone unnoticed by ordinary human eyes, and Mishki was forced to task a full dozen girls with the sole job of making sure no one interrupted them atop the grassy knoll.

The healing process was slow, but it was happening. Over time, as the Church began to erect itself around them, they began to realize the extend of their accomplishment. They had won! Victory was theirs. What was arguably the greatest concentration of demons in history had been defeated by them, the girls of Kazamino. They had had a little help from the Mitakihara Four, of course, but it still lent them all a sense of unity that they wouldn't soon forget.

For now, the days of factions were over.

It was at the end of the second day, then, that Mishki was taking a stroll around the Church grounds, checking up on the restoration progress. Almost all the windows were finished; she didn't know how they were going to teeth all the destroyed furniture, but they would figure it out. They always had, in the past. She slipped out through the back door and headed into the gardens, deciding that she needed some fresh air.

She rounded a corner, and found Kyouko standing over the graves.

The Church cemetery was a small one, but there had been enough space for the dead to be buried. The bodies were simply decay into dust anyways, but they had wanted to give the girls a proper burial. It didn't feel right otherwise. None of them had had any families, as was common among the puella magi. That meant they had no where else to be laid to rest, and Kyouko had been more than willing to provide the dead with such a place. It was her Church, after all. In the end it was her decision.

Mishki stopped, observing the redhead's expression. The taller girl was standing over the grave of casualty number three, a girl whose headstone read, _Haruka Sanami. May she rest in peace._ The look on Kyouko's face was unfathomable.

Deciding simply standing around would accomplish nothing, Mishki bowed her head and approached the girl.

"Getting some fresh air too?" She asked, startling Kyouko out of her reverie.

"Uh...yeah," She said, looking back down at the graves. It was late evening, and the nightbirds were singing their last songs in the trees. It was tranquil, and these girls didn't deserve it. They should have been alive too, running around inside the Church to help with fixing the windows, or keep civilians away, or whatever. They shouldn't be laying in the dirt, with their cold fingers clutched around their gems, the sign of a life that had ended too early.

"Are you okay?" Mishki asked this time, deciding she wasn't going to get anywhere with niceties. Something was bothering the redhead. That much was obvious, in the way she stood, to the way her face was scrunched up. But it was up to her to admit it or not.

"Yeah," Kyouko said bluntly, shifted her feet. The dry, dead grass cracked beneath her feet. "I didn't know any of them." She gestured at the solemn headstones. "But they all died here, under the roof where I grew up. Maybe it wasn't exactly all for me, but I'm still grateful, you know? I just...I wished I didn't have to be. Grateful, I mean. Because then they'd still be alive. They didn't deserve this..."

Mishki remained silent. She didn't know what to say, and she was afraid of trying and saying something wrong. So she just observed the nightbirds instead, and waited for the clouds to pass.

"How's Homura doing?" Kyouko asked then.

"Fine," Mishki replied, feeling somewhat relieved. "Mami says her condition is stable. She'll wake up, Kyouko."

"I know," The redhead said, turning away from the graves. "She's tougher than that. But I hate waiting."

The guide smiled to herself, and followed Kyouko back into the Church.

"Don't we all?"

* * *

><p>In the end, Kyouko didn't follow Mishki back into the cathedral. She still had one more headstone to visit.<p>

Taking a small detour, she looped around the back gardens until she reached the small, private cemetery on the other side of the building, where only the members of the Sakura family were meant to be buried.

Her mother and sister weren't buried here. The city had seen it unfit to leave their bodies beside the corpse of the man who had killed them, so they had been buried elsewhere, in the local cemetery. But the head of the Sakura family lay here, under the shaded maple trees of the Church.

Kyouko gently pushed open the rusted iron gate that blocked off this place from the rest of the world, the ravaged metal hinges screeched in protest. She left it open and entered the grove, until she stood in front of the only headstone in the cemetery, the one inscribed with the name of her father.

Biting her lip and squatting in front of the grave, she reached out and summoned the bravery to stroke the headstone.

"Hey, dad."

The first words were always the hardest, and Kyouko felt something squeezing her chest as she sat cross legged beside the grave, not wanting to speak while facing the headstone.

"I...guess it's been a while, huh?" She said, her voice trailing off when she realized there was no response to be had, and there never would be one. And it was all her fault.

"I don't really know why I'm here," She said truthfully, tucking her knees against her chest and resting her chin on them. Above her, the nightbirds had finish their songs. "I don't really know what I want to say, either. But if I had to choose something to say...I guess it would be that I'm sorry."

She paused then, waiting to see if the grave would reply.

It did not.

"I shouldn't have left," She continued. "Or maybe I should have. I don't know. But I should have come back sooner. But I just couldn't, for the longest time...I was afraid of facing you, because I know you have every right to hate me, Dad. You must know what I did to you, right? Up there in heaven..."

Kyouko's voice trailed off again, and she was at another loss for words. The night was getting deeper around her, and she was starting to feel cold. She considered apologizing again, but with a different wording, then laughed at herself. What would that accomplish? Her father was not someone who cared about apologies; she had to _understand_ that she was sorry, he would always say, or saying it would mean nothing.

And she was sure as hell that she was sorry.

That left almost nothing else to say, then. What else was there? This wasn't how Kyouko had planned this...reunion of sorts to play out. But what could she expect, after all this time?

"I've met someone," She blurted out suddenly. "She's nice...I guess. I don't know. But I like her. She's interesting, and I think I could grow to love her, if I tried. I don't really know why I'm telling you this..."

She spent the next hour talking about herself, about the things that had changed, about where she was in life, and how she felt. And the grave listened intently, never once interrupting her.

Then there came a point where she really had nothing left to say, and she decided that it was time to leave.

Pushing herself off the grass, Kyouko left the cemetery behind.

But for some reason, she felt a little better.

Just a little.

* * *

><p>The next day, Homura woke up.<p>

Kyouko was the first one to sense the shift in the time traveler's state of awareness, and she immediately bolted up the steps, kicking the door down and leaping on top of her girlfriend before she could even figure out how long she had been out.

Once Kyouko had finished punching Homura and calling her "a stupid, bloody, idiotic, heroic as fuck fool," she stepped back and gave the girl a little breathing room. Mami came in soon after and reprimanded the redhead for stressing Homura this early in the morning, and Kiku had simply hung back, smiling bemusedly to herself.

After the usual round of explaining what the girl had missed while she was out, Homura chose to pose her own question.

"What about Tayoshi?"

Mami and Kyouko exchanged glances.

"She...passed," The blonde responded, unsure of how else to say it. "I don't know how it happened, but her soul was corrupted too far. We buried her here, with the rest."

Homura nodding, not offering an explanation. One day, she would tell the story. But not today. "And the Acolytes?"

"They've been helping us rebuild this place," Kyouko said, the surprise evident in her voice. "They weren't very agreeable at first, but they calmed down once we told them what happened to Tayoshi. They all went out to visit the graves after that...and since then, they've completely changed."

Homura believed the redhead's words, but it was still a little surreal to experience it for herself. She left her bed and took a walk around the Church later that day, and when she turned a corner she made eye contact with Kagami. Thalia was working on a column beside her, and the two girls turned to look at her. They stayed like that, locked in a silent staring contest, but the Acolyte nodded quietly to her and returned to their work, disregarding Homura's presence.

Well, she supposed that was alright, too.

She walked around the church for a little longer, and near the end of the day she actually helped out a little, but Kyouko wouldn't allow it, saying that she should rest rather than stressing her body. It was a little odd to have the redhead be motherly towards her.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Seiyaku was there to wake her up.<p>

"Merry Christmas," Buzzer One said, smiling down at her.

"...What?" Homura grunted, sitting up in the bed.

"Pay attention to the calendar, Homura," Seiyaku replied, pointing at the small paper taped to a nearby wall. "December 25th. It's Christmas! Or do they not celebrate it in Mitakihara?"

"Of course we do," Homura scoffed, swatting at the girl halfheartedly. But Seiyaku was right. She had had no idea. They had all been detached from the everyday world for so long now.

"Come on," The Buzzer urged her suddenly, leaping off the bed and heading for the door. "I'll get Mami and Kiku. You go find Kyouko. The five of us need to talk."

* * *

><p>It was frigidly cold atop the highest spire in the Church, and Homura shivered as they all made their way up the spiraling steps. Kyouko seemed to notice and wrapped one arm around her, and for once Homura was too frozen to protest. She buried her nose into the redhead's shoulder, drawing a pleased smile from her partner.<p>

Seiyaku was waiting for them at the top, having a brief word with Mishki. The two of them stopped when they heard the door opening, and turned to await them.

"Couldn't you have chosen somewhere a little _closer_?" Kiku complained, plopping herself down onto the carpet.

"Maybe," Mishki said, pointing at the window. "But we want you to see this."

Walking over to the window, Homura looked out.

They had made much more progress in the last day. The Sakura Church was almost back to looking like it had _before_ they destroyed it, which was an accomplishment in itself when she considered how it had looked a mere four days ago. The spires were no longer cracked and leaning to the side, and the facade was now fully restored.

"We've done good work so far," Seiyaku nodded. "In a week or so, we'll be completely finished with the restoration process. It's a miracle, really. It would have taken normal humans years. Thank god for magic."

"Of course, there are still many things left to decide," Mishki pitched in, crossing her legs on the bed. "Which is why we've called you all here today. It's time to talk about the future."

Understanding that this was a prompt for her to pay attention, Homura turned away from the window and faced the others.

Clearing her throat, Seiyaku deigned to speak first.

"First of all, we think it's time for the four of you to go home."

They all stared dumbly back at her.

"What?" Kiku exclaimed first, frowning. "But there's so much work left to do!"

Mami nodded in agreement. "You can't seriously expect us to just go home?"

"You girls have sacrificed enough already," Mishki interrupted them, and the steel in her voice quieted any further protest. "You chased the Radix all the way here from Mitakihara, took out the Sisters, and warned us all. The factions are beginning to learn unity now; all of this is thanks to you. We never could have come this far if you simply chose to let the Radix destroy the city."

"As if we could have let that happen," Kyouko scoffed.

"Precisely," Seiyaku said. "And for that we are _eternally_ grateful. So let us shoulder some of the burden now. Don't you think it's time for you guys to take a break?"

The Mitakihara Four exchanged doubtful glances. All but Homura, anyway. Strangely, the idea of a break sounded extremely appealing to her.

Mishki sighed at their indecision. "Whether you go back home or not, I'll be leaving for Mitakihara first thing tomorrow. Shouldn't you all be there to welcome me to the city?"

Homura blinked. "You? Mitakihara? Why?"

"I've asked Mishki to take the twins and look after them someplace safe, where there is little to no danger posed to a fledgling magical girl. There are still factions out there who are less than friendly, and I don't need those kids getting caught up in the crossfire. Besides, it can't be healthy for them to grow up in an environment like this. Everyone deserves a chance to live life without demons around."

"No demons?" Kyouko asked, confused. "Why wouldn't there be demons back home?"

Seiyaku smiled at Mishki. "The thing about Radixes," She said, "Is that they tend to be despair magnets. Ours uprooted all the power it could find before coming here. So, at least for a few years or so, there won't be much despair built up in Mitakihara. Not enough to spawn demons, anyway. You might find yourselves a little bored when you go back."

"So..." Kyouko asked tentatively, "No demons?"

Seiyaku shook her head. "No demons."

Kyouko groaned and fell back onto the carpet, arms splayed out.

"That's a fucking miracle."

"Which is why I suggest you continue the good news," Mishki pressed, shrugging to herself. "Go back home, Kyouko. Take a well deserved break. Live life a little. You and Homura probably want a little peace for yourselves, right?"

Homura flushed and looked away, which destroyed Kyouko's ability to argue.

"Um...well...yeah, I guess," The redhead muttered, looking down at the carpet.

Mishki rolled her eyes at how easy they both were, but she smiled nonetheless. "Good. Then gather your things. Say your goodbyes if you have any, and get ready to leave. It's time we left this gloomy city behind."

A few minutes later, as they all began to leave the room atop the spire, Kyouko stopped Seiyaku.

"I'll come back," She said, pure determination in her voice. "I've made the mistake of leaving this city behind already. I won't make it again."

Seiyaku smiled and squeezed the girl's shoulder, nodding affirmatively.

"We'll be glad to have you."

* * *

><p>The next morning, they ran to catch the first train.<p>

"Hurry up, Kyouko!" Homura insisted as they jogged along the platform, one eye on their watches. "You're always the last one ready!"

"Well, you should have woken me up sooner!"

"It's your fault for oversleeping!"

"There's the train!" Kiku said, pointing at the far end of the platform. The first train back to Mitakihara was waiting patiently for them, its gravity powered engines humming softly in the crisp morning air.

All of the Buzzers had decided to tag along to say their farewells, and it was a crowded bunch as they all gathered around the entrance into the train. Homura had already said goodbye to the rest of the girls back at the Church, and though she hadn't personally known any of them, they shared some sort of odd kinship. It was one of the few good things can could come out of a battle.

"Gah, I hate crowds," Mishki grumbled as she elbowed her way through the streams of people who were also attempting to catch a ride, guiding the twins close behind her. She finally reached the front of the platform, and the children latched themselves onto her sleeves, instinctively knowing that she was their newfound guardian.

Kryptek looked at the twins and sighed. "It's going to get a little lonely around here," She said. "It won't be the same with all of you gone."

"We'll be back," Mishki promised, as Mami volunteered to load their few bags into the train. "It might be a while, but we'll be back. You can count on it."

Seiyaku smiled and pulled both Mishki and Homura into a tight hug, which surprised the time traveler. But, strangely, she didn't feel the urge to pull away. Instead she raised her arm and reciprocated, embracing each of the Buzzers for a brief moment before pulling away.

"We'll keep in touch," Mami promised, handing Seiyaku a paper with several phone numbers scrawled on it. "Once I convince this Amish girl here to get one of her own, I'll give you Homura's number, too."

"Amish? I'm not Amish," Homura scoffed, miffed.

"You don't even have a television in your house," Kyouko snorted.

Homura rolled her eyes. "Gosh, what I tragedy."

"Tell me about it!" The redhead agreed readily, either failing to read the sarcasm or ignoring it completely. "I'm behind on all my favorite shows!"

"Well, at least you've got Homura to entertain you," Mishki scoffed suggestively, and the time traveler blushed right on cue. Everybody shared a laugh.

A bell rang somewhere far above them, and a mechanical voice announced that the train was ready to depart.

"Looks like we're out of time," Mishki said, ushering the twins further into the train. "I'll call you when we get there, Seiyaku. Talk to you soon."

"Sure thing," Seiyaku said, waving. Then she shook hands with Homura, who actually smiled back at her.

"Friendships really do come from the strangest of places," The Buzzer sighed. "Who would have thought that I would one day shake hands with Akemi Homura?"

"Oh, please," She said, rolling her eyes. "I'm not that special. But you're right; when I came here, I was expecting nothing but trouble. And there _was_ nothing but trouble. But, when I think about it...well, it might have been worth it. Just maybe."

"Wow," Kyouko said, clapping. "I think that might have been the first positive thing I've ever heard you say."

Homura elbowed her. "Ow!"

The bell rang again, more urgently this time. Seiyaku urged them to board the train, and after many more prolonged goodbyes and farewells, they did. The pneumatic doors hissed closed between them, and now all they could both do was wave.

Then the train began to move, and the Buzzers were gone.

Kyouko sighed as she dropped her hand to her side, slumping against the wall. "Well, that's that."

"Yeah," Homura murmured absentmindedly, still staring out the window even though the girls were now far out of sight. "That's that." It was an odd feeling, to miss someone. She had missed Madoka, but they were separated by literal planes of existence. Missing someone who wasn't too far...she didn't like it, but it wasn't so bad either.

She had been thinking that a lot, lately.

Homura remembered Kiku announcing that she would be taking a nap once they were on the train, and she entered the adjacent car to find the brunette sound asleep and using Mami as a pillow. The normally proper blonde looked a little uncomfortable to be supporting Kiku's weight, but she didn't complain. And after Homura and Kyouko took the seats across the aisle and some considerable time passed, the blonde also fell asleep, her cheek resting against Kiku's brown locks. She looked oddly content.

Homura sighed to herself as she watched the world slip by through the window. She remembered seeing this view some time ago, but it had been night and things had been different. Now the sky was a pure, unadulterated blue, and the landscape was unbroken before her.

"Having second thoughts?" Kyouko asked from beside her, leaning into her shoulder.

"No," Homura said, turning away from the window. She found the redhead's face to be rather close to her own, staring up at her with curious crimson irises. Homura had always been a little bewitched by those eyes. "I was just thinking...that things never turn out how I expect them too, no matter how much I think I know."

Kyouko shrugged and leaned away from her, stretching luxuriously. "That's life. You never know what's around the next corner..."

"Really," Homura murmured, closing her eyes and leaning against the cushions. She didn't really know what to think about it. Once she got home, she would have to...do what? There were no more demons to fight, at least not for now. There was no immediate crisis to avert. What was she going to do once she got home?

It occurred to her, then, that for the first time in a long, loooong while, she had nothing to do.

It was probably the best thought she had had that week.

"Oh, that reminds me," Kyouko said suddenly, prompting Homura to open her eyes. "Since we're in a good mood and all...I think this is a good time for me to make a confession?"

Homura stared at her. "Yes?"

The redhead clapped her hands together in front of her and bowed her head.

"I kind of didn't remember this until just now, but...I might have..._kind _of left the faucet running back home."

Homura's heart clenched, as nightmares of her water bill rose up in her mind.

"You _what?_"

"Listen, Homura, I'm really-"

"You have two seconds to run."

Kyouko leapt off the seat and bolted immediately, knowing that when Homura gave you a time constraint, you were basically done for.

Homura counted down from two before tearing down the aisle after her partner, shouting oaths as she went, unknowingly startling both Mami and Kiku from their slumber.

"What's going on?" Kiku asked groggily, rubbing her cheek into Mami's shoulder.

"Young love, I guess," The blonde yawned, admittedly eager to reclaim the vestiges of sleep.

"Looks like we'll have to get used to it."

And so another chapter began among them.

**The End**

**(of Part One)**

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, I think this chapter is officially the longest thing that I have and every will publish in my lifetime.<strong>

**If you made it this far, well, I can only give you props! Thanks to everyone who still reads this story; it's been a hell of a long time, and it definitely didn't turn out at all like I thought it would. But for what it's worth, Part One of Silent Melody is now complete! **

**Big thanks in particular to anyone who chose to take time out of their day and leave a review. You guys motivate me to keep going, and your feedback has a ton to do with how this story turned out. Really, I mean it.**

**Part Two will commence…sometime in the future. It shouldn't be too long, but I don't really know what I'll be doing with it. I just want to explore the implications of a genuine relationship between these two…(I'm kind of shipping Mami and Kiku now too which was totally unplanned like is this okay).**

**And as _always_, thanks so much for reading.**

**I can't believe it's been exactly a year since I posted Chapter One...**

**~Banshee**


	22. Part 2: A Thousand Suns

Chapter 22: A Thousand Suns

Homura's brain frowned in confusion when the usual sound of the alarm clock didn't awake her, a small detail that ended up rousing her anyways.

Her eyes opened smoothly, their movement made lush by the extra sleep she had allowed herself. Why was she sleeping in again? Oh, right. Winter break. Still, it felt a little odd to not have a plethora of worries thrust before her. She thought further. She supposed she could go out and scout for more hunting spots...

Then she remembered that she didn't have to hunt anymore, and sighed to herself in relief. Realizing that she actually had nothing to do today, Homura rolled over and tried to recapture the last vestiges of sleep.

But then she realized just how_ weird_ that was, and she woke up again, much to her dismay.

_Well, I guess this view isn't so bad either,_ Homura thought, observing the girl before her.

Kyouko was knocked out cold a few inches from Homura's nose, the redhead's chest rising and falling steadily as she snored, the quiet rumbles sliding forth from the pit of her throat. Homura had found that habit of hers to be incredibly annoying at first, but lately she had found herself being lulled to sleep by the never ending drone, so she had stopped bothering Kyouko about it. As she watched with half lidded eyes, the redhead muttered something about triangles and turned her head the other way, drowning her snores within the mush of the pillow.

Suppressing a smile, Homura looked behind her and checked the time. Nine in the morning. They had slept in long enough. Turning back, she reached out to shake the other girl awake.

Then she hesitated, her hand pausing midair. Changing direction momentarily, Homura lifted the sheets just a hair and peeked to make sure Kyouko was wearing pants.

This time, she was.

Sighing in relief, Homura shook her girlfriend awake.

"I told you not to mix the blueberries in," Kyouko mumbled, still spilling the contents of her dreams through her lips. Homura snorted and shook the girl harder, even reaching out and gently pinching the bridge of her nose to restrict the girl's breathing. Kyouko attempted to inhale but found her nasal pathways thoroughly blocked, and her brain urged her to open her eyes, irises darting about for the source of the blockage.

Two twin rubies met two pools of violet, and Kyouko smiled up at her.

"What a rude way to wake someone up in the morning," The redhead said softly, her eyes still half squinting from the aftereffects of sleep.

Homura gulped. Kyouko's voice was husky from sleeping in, and it was giving her some unwarranted thoughts. "Would you prefer that I go back to firing blanks instead?"

Kyouko closed her eyes, seeming to contemplate a more thorough answer to the question, and for a moment Homura thought the girl had fallen back asleep. "No," She said at last, still smiling contentedly to herself. Then she reached up and yanked Homura down towards her, shifting her weight and rolling once she did, so that she lay nestled on top of the shield user.

"Hey," Homura said dangerously, glaring up at the taller girl, though with little conviction. This resulted in giving her an expression that looked more coy than anything else, and Kyouko had to bite her lip when the time traveler looked at her with half lidded eyes, readjusting the grip she had on Homura's wrists, which were pinned gently against the mattress.

"I much rather prefer it when you wake me up like this," Kyouko whispered softly, lowering her head to give Homura a good morning kiss.

But the girl brought one finger between them, and Kyouko kissed her nail instead. "Brush your teeth first," Homura said bluntly. "Do you have any idea what someone else's morning breath tastes like?"

Kyouko narrowed her eyes playfully, and Homura felt her will waver. "I'm sure mine tastes spectacular."

The girl she had pinned against the bed snorted at the idea. "On the contrary..."

She really looked beautiful, with her hair splayed out erratically across the pillows. Homura's constantly cool demeanor made it a little difficult to tell sometimes, but she was actually a very pretty girl. And she looked even more enticing here, with her pale arms raised above her shoulders, her midnight locks a perfect mess of black against the white of the sheets. Kyouko could feel Homura's body shifting constantly beneath her, and the realization brought a strange pressure to the pit of her stomach.

Was it really okay for her to have someone like this?

"Kyouko, are you paying attention?" Homura asked irritably, freeing one of her hands to wave it in front of the redhead's face.

Blinking, Kyouko refocused on the girl's words. "Sorry," She said, smiling cockily. "I was too busy admiring your features."

The shield user froze, then blushed right on cue. "D-Don't say things like that," She muttered, freeing her other hand and pushing Kyouko away from her. "Go brush your teeth. And don't use my toothbrush by mistake this time!"

"Roger, roger," Kyouko snickered, slipping out the bed at last, ready to tackle another day.

* * *

><p>"So what's for breakfast today?" Kyouko yawned as she slumped into her usual seat on the couch.<p>

"The usual," Homura replied, pushing at the stove. A small azure flame sprang to life. "Bacon and eggs."

Surprisingly enough, Homura head managed to extract them both from the bed without further complications. Kyouko often wanted to "wrestle" in the mornings, though the time traveler had no idea what form of the sport she had in mind, seeing as Kyouko's edition usually included the use of lips in combat. And sometimes other things.

Homura exhaled as she cracked an egg open. Luckily Kyouko was too sluggish in the mornings to attempt anything overly serious. She didn't mind intimacy, but she wanted to take things a little slower.

Meanwhile, Kyouko turned and stared out the window. "Another bright, sunny day," She murmured, licking at her fangs. They still tasted minty from the toothpaste. Her eyes fell to the thermometer fixed on the wall. "But I already know it's actually freezing."

"It'll be winter for a while yet," Homura replied, opening a door and looking for the bacon. "It's still just winter break. Besides, don't you want to get sufficient use out of your winter clothes?"

Kyouko couldn't really argue with that. Homura had become accustomed to simply lending her spare clothes to the redhead, but after returning from Kazamino Mami had insisted that they do some shopping. While she agreed, fashion sense was certainly not her forte, so she had hung back and let Mami take over. Luckily the blonde was an enthusiast, and Homura had to admit she had good taste. Kyouko's style of dress had become significantly more appealing as of late. It would be good for the redhead.

Besides, seeing Kyouko walk around the house wearing one of Homura's oversized shirts made her feel more than a little uncomfortable.

"What are we going to do today?" Kyouko asked, maybe rhetorically. Homura really didn't have an answer for that question at the moment. Sliding the finished food onto two plates, she carried them over to the table and sat across from the redhead, who offered a brief prayer before digging in.

"I don't know," Homura said honestly, leaning on one elbow and scanning her eyes across the house. It wasn't as if she had any hobbies; the room was effectively barren. "Maybe we should clean the apartment?"

Kyouko groaned and threw her hands up, and for a moment Homura was afraid the fork would go flying into the ceiling. It already leaked a little bit when it rained. "Not _that_ again. We cleaned this place for two days straight! And you worked me like I was a literal dog!"

"A more than generous punishment, considering the contributions you made to my water bill," Homura said darkly, stabbing at her eggs.

"Look, leaving the faucet running was _not_ on purpose," The redhead protested, though her tone was considerably subdued.

"And the extra money I handed over this month was 'not on purpose,'" Homura said sardonically, finishing her eggs and setting the fork down. "Do you want seconds?"

"Strangely, I've lost my appetite," Kyouko said blandly, making the shield user roll her eyes. Homura collected the plates and started carrying them over to the sink, but the redhead got out of her chair and took them instead.

"My job, remember?" She said, wagging a finger.

"Oh, right," Homura blinked. "Old habit."

It was a little rule they had established between themselves; Homura made the food, and Kyouko cleaned up afterwards. The raven haired girl supposed she was getting the short end of the stick, but she didn't particularly mind. It wasn't as if she expected the redhead to evolve into some legendary maid one day. Still, she liked it. Having someone else to wake up besides herself in the morning, having to remember which toothbrush was hers, knowing that she didn't have to do dishes anymore; they were all tiny details, but they served to remind her that she wasn't alone, that she had someone.

It made her smile inside, just a little.

"If we're not continuing your sentence, do you have any ideas?" Homura asked, leaning against the island. She languidly watched the redhead scrub vigorously at the dishes.

"Hmm? Well..." She rolled the thought around in her head. "Why don't you call Kiku over? I'm sure the popularity queen will have some fine ideas."

Homura pursed her lips. "I thought the two of you didn't get along?"

The other girl thought about that for a little while, letting the sound of squeaking china fill the air instead. "Yeah, she kind of pisses me off sometimes," Kyouko admitted at last, placing the last of the dishes onto the rack. Then she turned to face Homura, towel in hand. "But I don't hate her or anything. Besides, she had my back at the Church. I have to respect that. Kiku's not a bad person."

"I wasn't saying that she is," Homura replied, albeit absentmindedly; her mind was already wandering elsewhere.

It had been nearly a week since the battle. Nearly a week since she had vanquished the Radix and left both herself and the Church in ruins, with dozens of other girls laying unconscious behind her. Nearly a week since she had laid by a dying Acolyte's side, telling her the most soothing story she could resurface from memory, the tale of a girl become deity.

It still bothered her. Homura had always prided herself for being able to get over things rather quickly, so it puzzled her somewhat to still be mulling over Tayoshi's death. It just tugged at her somehow, giving her the itching feeling that something was still wrong, still out of place, but when she looked around she found that absolutely nothing was amiss. Things were as simple and happy as they had been in forever, and Homura knew it was a true blessing that she had been able to recapture that dream.

Maybe it was the fact that none of this could have been without Tayoshi's sacrifice; if the sickly Acolyte had prevailed, things would have been very different. The Radix might have overrun Kazamino, and the four of them could very well be dead. But instead here she was, flipping bacon and eggs and holding idle conversation with her significant other, sitting on her hands and trying to figure out what she was going to do with the rest of her life.

Tayoshi didn't have that luxury. She didn't _have_ the rest of her life. To be frank, the girl was dead. And yet the world moved quietly on, and Homura felt like the only one who was still hung up on the girl's passing. She supposed the other Acolytes cared, but they weren't around for her to observe their mourning. It irked her that a life could be so casually swept under a rug in favor of enjoying something better, but what did she have to complain? Things _were_ better now. She had to admit that.

She just didn't approve of what it had cost.

What was new?

"...Homura? Homura!" Kyouko voiced, waving her arms around for emphasis.

Blinking, the time traveler refocused on the redhead. "Uh...oh. Yes?"

"Jeez," Kyouko sighed, setting the towel aside. She fished a small slip of paper from her pocket. "I was asking if I should call Kiku over?"

Homura stared at the paper sitting trapped between the redhead's fingers, still a little behind on the flow of conversation. "...What about Mami?" She asked at last, more to stall for time than anything else.

Kyouko smirked. "With the way Kiku clings to her, they'll probably come together. We won't have to bother asking."

Homura snorted and unfolded her arms, walking away from the kitchen.

"Give her a call, then."

* * *

><p>A few minutes later, Homura was walking down the hall when she passed the door to the basement.<p>

She was about to leave the door behind like she always did, but something prompted her to pause and turn back around, as she stared oddly at the room sitting squarely in the center of the hall. The shield user mulled for a moment over what had made her stop in her tracks. Then it occurred to her that they hadn't cleaned the basement at all yet.

Pursing her lips, Homura considered calling Kyouko over for another round of dust sweeping, but decided against it. She had worked the girl hard enough for the past few days; besides, she wasn't _that_ mad about the faucet incident. She only kept old junk and big objects that she had no use for in the basement regardless. It had been so long, and she had been focused on other things to the point that she didn't even remember what she kept there anymore.

Staring at the doorknob for a little longer, she felt curiosity overtake her. Approaching the door, Homura turned the knob and opened it wide.

A short, yawning wooden staircase stretched out below her, quickly disappearing into the darkness despite its lack of depth. Reaching behind the wall and groping around for a moment, she located the light switch and flicked it upwards. A single dull, dust-choked lightbulb ground itself to life from a string on the ceiling, illuminating the cramped space beneath it. Placing a foot onto the first step and stooping slightly to get a better view, Homura peeked into her basement.

It was really was dusty in here, and Homura covered her nose with one sleeve as she proceeded down the steps, one hand on the aging railing to maintain her balance. The wood creaked and popped even beneath her meager weight. The walls were mostly lined with corroded bookcases, lined to the seams with ancient novels and fat volumes. That was a surprise; Homura kept a small library of her own upstairs, and she hadn't known that there were more books here to browse through. She made a mental note to leaf through some of them at a later date.

They would have to do something about those cobwebs first, though.

Breathing shallowly, Homura reached the bottom of the basement and treaded forward with socked feet, being careful not to disturb the fine layer of silver dust lining the hardwood. The single lightbulb cast a throbbing yellow glow on everything, making the walls and bookcases seem a little more livid than they actually were, reminding Homura that she was a little claustrophobic.

Regardless, she pressed on, driven solely by pure curiosity. She passed several piles of stacked cardboard boxes, probably remnants from the day she had first moved in here, as well as little trinkets and tools she had no memory of ever possessing. Seeing one last bookshelf superimposed in front of the back wall, Homura inhaled deeply and peeked around the back of it.

What she found made her raise an eyebrow in surprise.

A small, slender piano sat nestled against the wall behind the protective shield of the bookshelf, looking like a timid beast who had fallen asleep in the little corner. Like everything else, it was covered in dust; perhaps the instrument had once been a deep, jet black, but now it was just a fine gray. Then lid remained closed, but Homura could still read the logo of those who had built the instrument from scratch, scrawled across the backboard like loopy cursive: _Pragmatic._

_A Pragmatic piano..._ Homura rolled the name around in her head. Where had she read that name before? Stepping out from behind the bookshelf and approaching the piano, she reached out a traced her finger along the polished lid, wiping away a small trail of the dust layer and revealing the wood beneath. Frowning intensely, she tried to remember where she had seen a piano like this before, no, _this_ specific piano.

Just before the inklings of a memory began to return to her, Homura heard her name being called.

Looking up, she heard Kyouko's footsteps thumping softly down the hall above her, the redhead calling out for her. "I'm down here," She replied, not looking away from the piano. She heard the redhead's footfalls pause for a moment before locating the door to the basement, which Homura had left ajar. Soon enough Kyouko was creaking her way down the steps as well, shuffling her way through the dust until she found Homura staring down at the _Pragmatic._

_"_I called Kiku," Kyouko said. "She and Mami were already out, so they're heading over now."

Homura nodded absentmindedly.

_"_Jesus, it's dusty in here," Kyouko grumbled, walking up to Homura's side. "How long has this stuff been sitting here? It looks like it's been untouched for ages..."

"I don't know," Homura said honestly, tracing another line through the dust. "But it must have been some years. "I don't think I've been through this place since I moved in, actually."

Kyouko rolled her eyes. "I think I would have offed myself if you found this place a few days ago."

"As if you'd have the guts," Homura snarked back, finally turning away from the piano to face the redhead, placing her hands on the lid behind her and leaning against it for balance.

Kyouko's eyes abruptly raked down the length of her body, and Homura shifted uncomfortably. "What's with the piano?"

"I don't know," She said again, pressing her fingers against the cool wood behind her. "I feel like I've seen it before, maybe from when I was younger, but I can't exactly place my finger on it."

"Hmm..." Kyouko leaned forward, extending an arm past Homura to caress the edge of the instrument. "Sounds like a problem." Her breath just barely tickled the time traveler's neck as she spoke, and Homura gulped.

"Um...yeah. It is," She agreed, eyes darting everywhere but in front of her. She didn't know if this was intentional or not, but Kyouko was making it significantly harder for her to breath, for reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with the dust.

Kyouko hummed in agreement, then placed both her hands on either side of Homura's body, trapping the smaller girl against the smooth surface of the piano. Before the time traveler could react, Kyouko had their bodies flush against each other, and suddenly the previously chilly room felt like a furnace.

"Maybe this will help you think?" The redhead asked, before leaning in and kissing her.

_Yeah, right_, Homura thought as her brain consequently turned into a puddle of mush, her eyes going half-lidded almost instinctively. They had only embraced like this a few times before, but she had grown to expect things like this from the proactive redhead after knowing her for this long. But that did not in any way mean that she was used to it; every time Kyouko brushed their lips together, every time she brought her hands into play and dragged a single knuckle down the length of her spine, Homura felt a thrill of fear surge through her cortex.

Homura made a small, feminine sound when Kyouko pressed a little closer, making the redhead break away from her. "What? I brushed my teeth," She snickered, before resuming.

Homura wanted to say that wasn't exactly the point, she was too busy trying to figure out where to put her hands.

Albeit, it was a good fear; the thrill of something raw, something almost taboo about doing this with Kyouko, away from the eyes of a world that could never understand either of them. The sighed breaths, the murmured sweet nothings; Homura had never thought herself the type, but it sparked something within her.

_"Mmnnn..."_ Homura half squeaked when Kyouko reached out and tugged her a little closer, further deepening the kiss. She was forced to bring one hand off the piano lid and use it to grip the redhead's hip instead, for fear of swaying in place, which would have been embarrassing. Sensing that her partner was feeling a little overwhelmed, Kyouko brought a few inches between themselves, allowing them both to take a few ragged breaths.

"Kyou-" Homura tried to murmur, but the redhead was already picking up where they had left off, sucking gently on the girl's lower lip. Homura accidentally let a brief groan slip through, and she could feel Kyouko smiling to herself, even as she kept her teeth gently pressed against where Homura's flesh was most sensitive.

Kyouko had admitted on numerous occasions that she had no previous experience when it came to physical intimacy; she had had no real significant others in the past, and it wasn't really a topic she had concerned herself with before. With that basis, Homura could only conclude that Kyouko had a natural knack for things like this; there was a certain confidence to the redhead's actions that Homura herself lacked, and in some cases this confidence might have been mistaken for experience. But Homura knew this was not the case.

So why the hell was she so _good_ at this?

"Could you," Homura gasped, slipping one hand between them and forcing some breathing room, "Be any less subtle?"

Kyouko looked up and their eyes met, and Homura saw a candid hunger there that scared her a little. "...Do you want me to be?"

"Well..." Homura paused, suddenly unsure of her own motive. She wasn't even sure what she wanted to say to that. She didn't expect Kyouko to be romantic or delicate with her; that wasn't the redhead's style, and Homura liked her for that. But there was a certain apprehension still, that same fear, but the bad side of it; the feeling that she wasn't able to keep up with the redhead's pace.

Kyouko always took the lead. And while Homura didn't exactly mind, she felt that it was more due to circumstance than her own choice. She was always scrambling for her bearings, and there was some times where she didn't like the feeling. Like things were moving too fast, and she lacked ample control over their momentum.

"Any further complaints?" Kyouko asked, leaning in again.

"I-" Homura said, but she found her voice muffled again, as Kyouko's hands began to tangle in her hair. The time traveler floundered once again, as she clung desperately to Kyouko with both hands this time, both eyes squeezed shut.

_Wait..._

The front door opened.

"We're hereeee!~"

Kyouko groaned and pulled away, looking at the ceiling in annoyance. "Who gave them the keys?"

"You did," Homura muttered, reaching up to wipe self consciously at her mouth.

Footsteps above them. "Hello? Anyone home?"

"Come on," Homura prompted, pushing the redhead gently away from her. "We're the ones who called them over."

Kyouko sighed and stood back up, taking a few steps back before disappearing behind the bookcase. Homura made to follow, but not before taking one last look at the piano.

Then, shrugging, she flicked off the lights.

* * *

><p>"Oh, there you are!" Kiku said when she spotted Homura and Kyouko, the two girls appearing in the door to the living room. Kyouko eyed the illusionist a little warily, expecting her to make a suggestive joke about what had taken them so long, but surprisingly this didn't happen. Blinking in muted relief, she entered the room.<p>

"I was thinking that Kyouko had overslept," Mami said from her seat beside the brunette, smiling amiably when her friends entered the room. Both girls were occupying one of the two couches Homura had set up in the middle of the room, sitting together like a pair of sparrows.

Homura frowned when she saw what the girls were wearing.

"Why the yukatas?"She asked, taking a seat across from them. Kyouko followed suit. It was true. Both of the girls were dressed in loose, casual style yukatas, with matching floral patterns, though Mami wore a vibrant yellow while Kiku had gone with a fresher green.

Kiku stared back at them with equal amounts of confusion. "What do you mean why? We went to visit the shrine this morning."

"...Why?" Kyouko asked this time, the same blank look still pasted over her and Homura's faces.

Mami gave them both a displeased look. "Maybe because it's News Year's day?"

The young couple stared back in silence. "...It is?" Kyouko asked at last, looking supremely nonplussed.

"Come to think of it, Christmas _was_ a little while ago," Homura mused, nodding to herself as if forgetting such a thing wasn't a big deal at all.

"What year is it again?" Kyouko muttered to herself, trying to discreetly count to herself using her fingers.

"You'd better be joking," Mami grunted.

"How out of sync with the normal world are you two?" Kiku asked, incredulous. "I mean, it would be understandable if you missed little holidays, considering how busy you were, but forgetting both Christmas and New Years back to back..."

Homura was about to reply by saying that Kiku wouldn't understand, that she hadn't been a magical girl for nearly as long as she and the others had, and that given time, she too would have understood how easy it was to lose one's grip on reality. But then she realized that Mami was also staring at them with a shocked expression on her face; it really was just her and Kyouko. It occurred to her then that while Mami's life had also been consumed by her duties, she at least had put some effort into maintaining her normal life. She and Kyouko had both thrown themselves completely into demon hunting at some point, and somewhere along the line they had lost their regular place in society.

"Well, Happy New Year, I suppose," Homura sighed.

"This might be a good chance for you start living your own life, Homura," Mami suggested, in her usual motherly way. "Pursue your own hobbies, things like that."

"Do you even have any hobbies?" Kyouko asked her, though she figured she already knew the answer.

Homura put some genuine thought to it anyway. "Uh...not really."

"What do you do in your free time?" Kiku asked, leaning forward. "You know, when you're not doing school related stuff?"

The time traveler stared blankly back. "I...drew out hunting plans?"

"Anything else?" The brunette pressed.

Homura scrunched her eyebrows together, a telltale sign that she was using up supreme amounts of concentration. "I...also cooked dinner?"

Mami dropped her face into her palm, while Kyouko simply guffawed. Homura stared at them both in confusion, while Kiku simply blinked, not moving from her position.

Of course, Homura was no fool. She got the point; now that demons were eradicated from Mitakihara, she had absolutely nothing to do. For so long, every waking hour, from morning to night, day to day, week to week, demons had been the center of her life. She had planned everything around them; her meals, her studying schedule, her sleeping habits. Now that hunting was no longer necessary, or even possible, she found herself with virtually nothing to fill the gap left behind. She was almost floating through limbo without any responsibilities to fulfill, as if someone had summoned an impalpable knife and carved out an essential part of her.

Strangely, though, it didn't scare her. She was glad to be rid of the need to fight, at least for now; that was a frontier that she had conquered long ago, and even the novelty of being a magical girl had worn out after a while. She had wanted to try living a different life for a long time, and this was finally her chance.

The only question, then, was to decide _how_ she was going to live from now on.

"Didn't you do anything for fun as a kid?" Kiku asked this time, apparently hell bent on squeezing _something_ interesting out of Homura. "Any special skills? A talent? You don't mean to tell me you just hung out in the incubator until an actual one showed up!"

"Where is he, anyway?" Kyouko asked, looking up.

"He disappeared after we left the Church," Mami said. "Nobody really knows where he went. But if he needs us, he'll be back."

Kyouko nodded in agreement. Meanwhile, Homura closed her eyes and dug around in her memory, attempting to find an answer that would satisfy the adamant illusionist. "Well..." She said, frowning to herself, "I was taught piano as a small child."

"Brilliant," Kiku declared, acting like she had just discovered something incredible. Homura felt more than a little insulted. "Have you got one?"

"A piano?" She said, blinking. "Well, there's one in the basement. But it's ancient."

"Perfect. We're gonna haul that thing up here, asap," Kiku decided, rising to her feet with eagerness.

Homura gave the brunette an ill look instead. "Why?"

"Because you need to start adding a little color to your life," The illusionist called back.

"I'm not moving that thing anywhere until it's been cleaned," Homura grouched, crossing her arms across her chest.

A look of pure dismay crossed Kyouko's face. "Oh, no. Please. Don't tell me-"

"Grab a rag, Kyouko. I'm putting you to work," Kiku declared.

In that moment, the redhead seriously regretting handing Mami a copy of the key.

* * *

><p>Half an hour later, after much grunting and complaining (mostly from Kyouko's end), the four of them had managed to wipe down the old <em>Pragmatic<em> piano sitting in the back of Homura's basement. Movement proved to be difficult for Mami and Kiku given their style of clothing, so most of the work had ended up falling to Homura, who subsequently unloaded in all onto Kyouko, therefore extending the redhead's punishment for the faucet incident.

"I thought people couldn't be convicted twice for the same crime in this country," Kyouko grumbled to herself as she rubbed a damp rag into a tight corner.

"That's an American law, Kyouko," Mami reminded her, rather unnecessarily.

"Wow, that makes me feel so much better!"

Mami frowned.

"There, that should be enough," Kiku said, motioning that Kyouko could stop cleaning. The redhead stood up and tossed her rag into a corner in disgust. She felt like she had cleaned this damn apartment more thoroughly than she had cleaned herself in seventeen years of life. "Now we have to get this thing upstairs..."

The four of them stared at the piano. Luckily it wasn't a grand, so it was a little smaller than most of its brethren. But the thing probably still clocked in at over two hundred pounds. Homura didn't know if it was going to fit through the door; and even if it did, where was she going to put it? What was she even going to _do_ with it? She supposed the answer to that question was rather obvious, but it had been years since she had stroked the pale ivory. She might be able to remember the fundamentals with some practice, but for what? Was she suddenly supposed to become a pianist, out of the blue?

It was then that she realized how pointless this all was, and Homura realized why she wasn't saying anything. This amount of nonsense was not something she would have tolerated before.

"Would it be easier if we all transformed?" Mami suggested, holding up her Soul Gem. "It would add to our strength, and I could use my ribbons to help with the pulling...I am not really much for grunt work."

"Sounds like a plan," Kiku agreed readily. "Let's-"

"Wait," Homura said, interrupting them. The other three all turned towards her, making her falter momentarily. "Let's...just do this normally," She said, gesturing towards the piano. "We can still lift it on our human strength, can't we? Besides, we don't have demons to hunt anymore. Being frivolous with magic is ill advised."

Mami thought about it before shrugging. "You make a good point, as always." She stuffed away her Soul Gem and motioned for Kiku to help her with one end of the piano.

Homura was about to take the other side when Kyouko asked her something through telepathy.

[_Is that really the only reason why?_] She asked, stooping slightly to get her fingers beneath the instrument.

Homura stared at her for a moment before bending down to help.

[_Of course. What other reason could I have?_]

* * *

><p>Homura stared more than a little apprehensively at the unassuming piano sitting somewhat meekly in front of her; it seemed to be as nervous as she was. The light in the basement had made it look like it was made out of some brown colored wood, but it was actually a strong black, gleaming cleanly as a result of Kyouko's begrudging efforts. The lid was flipped open, and she was sitting on a stool they had scrounged up for this very occasion.<p>

Reaching out, she laid three fingers on one hand upon the keys. She shivered; the ivory was chilly to the touch again. The keys felt unfamiliar and blocky to her. When she poked her feet out and pressed gingerly at the pedals, they felt stiff. It wasn't that the instrument had decayed over time; quite the contrary, really. She had expected it to be out of tune at the very least, but even that had failed to be a problem. No, the issue was with herself.

"Well, play something," Kiku prompted her, leaning against the piano with both arms draped on top of it.

Homura gave her a look. "You do realize it has been literal years since I've even touched a piano?"

Kiku pouted back at her. "C'mon, Homura. I heard that music is like riding a bike. Once you learn, you never forget."

_What I could do if I had her confidence,_ Homura thought blandly to herself, turning back to the keys. But the brunette was right. She could already feel the fundamentals returning to the forefront of her mind, stimulated into action simply by her touching the piano. Memories, faint recallings from her childhood, began to infused her mind as she slowly reached out a gave the keys a featherlight touch again, pursing her lips. She had never been more than mediocre as a child, and she didn't expect anything from herself now.

Figuring that Kiku would never get off her case if she didn't at least try, Homura pressed down with her right hand. A standard C-chord rang out softly from behind the backboard, and Homura felt her pulse jump a little bit.

Kiku clapped enthusiastically, and Mami and Kyouko sluggishly followed suit, more out of prompting than anything else. The brunette was probably just goading her, hoping to push Homura into playing more in some warped attempt to prove herself. But Homura wasn't one to rise to such bait, and she wouldn't play if it meant that she would lose to Kiku's relatively childish agenda.

Still, though...she supposed being near the piano was helping some with her memory, because she was recalling several more details now, and in greater clarity. Her guardians had seen it fit for her to be proficient in at least one artistic skill, and the piano had been the most obvious choice. She remembered practicing drills and chord progressions under a filtered, sunlight roof, the gentle voice of an instructor she did not remember filling in the empty spaces. Music had never been anything more than a hobby to her, but she had enjoyed it for what it was.

Homura blinked. A hobby. This was what they were, right? Something one did just because? She had absolutely no reason to be playing the piano anymore, but somehow that made this predicament special. For the first time, she didn't _have_ to do something. For the first time, she had a choice. She could pursue this or not; it was totally up to her.

What a terrifying feeling.

Flexing her fingers, Homura played another chord. Kiku perked up. "Do you anything memorized?" She demanded, continuing her string of unrealistic assumptions.

"Hardly," Homura snorted, pausing to think about what note would come next. She was incredibly rusty, to say the least. "But I remember a few basic progressions, from my lessons..." Letting her voice trail off, she rattled off a few more messy chords, gradually piecing them together to form a short tune that she repeated multiple times, trying to regain a feel for the keys.

"Oh," Kyouko said, her eyes widening in realization. "It's a church hymn."

It sure sounded like one, Homura thought, as she focused on maintaining a consistent rhythm. It was a simple, thick melody one could easily sway to, the kind of music that was hardly rare at a church. She wondered for a moment where this particular memory came from, but thought little of it; she doubted it mattered where it came from. She had it, right here in front of her, and that was what mattered.

Why had she stopped playing, again? She assumed at first that her contract had gotten in the way, but that didn't make sense. She had quit long before that. Something bigger. Something earlier...

Oh, yes. Her heart condition.

Homura played the chords a few more times before stopping, resting her fingers against the keys. The other three girls looked at her expectantly, perhaps hoping that the time traveler had a little more hidden up her sleep, but she stood up and closed the lid instead.

"That's enough," She decided aloud, scooting her way out of the stool. "I didn't call you all over here to start a piano club."

Kiku pouted again, but they all dispersed with little to no complaint. To them, it was revolutionary in itself that Homura had indulged them to this point. The girl normally wouldn't even have let the piano leave the basement. They had bothered the time traveler enough for today.

But Kyouko was the only one to see Homura smile a little to herself, the girl's fingers twitching just a fraction.

* * *

><p>"So, why <em>are<em> we here?" Mami asked, leaning against the island in the kitchen. The blonde had taken the liberty of brewing some tea that Homura hadn't even known she had, and the four of them now sat scattered around various spots throughout the kitchen, sipping at their drinks. Kyouko had lent some of her clothes to the blonde, which suited the older girl just fine. After all, she had picked out the clothes herself. She was bound to look good in them.

Kiku was built a little smaller, so she had been forced to borrow Homura's set instead. "Don't tell me you missed us so badly that you just had to see our faces?" She asked, smirking at them from behind her mug.

Kyouko rolled her eyes. "Homura and I were having plenty of fun before you two came along," She said, loading her words with impossible amounts of suggestion. Kiku seemed to blanch and threw a quick look at Mami, but the blonde's face remained blissfully unaware. "Long story short; we have absolutely nothing to do."

"I do believe we already established that," Mami pointed out.

"Yes," Kyouko responded tersely, already tired of hearing about how much of a boring individual she was compared to the blonde. "We have. But we were hoping that you and Kiku could provide us with some ideas, you know, seeing as you two are both such stellar individuals."

"Why, thank you, Kyouko," Mami said, not an ounce of sarcasm in her tone. Kyouko shot her an incredulous look before shaking her head.

"So, any ideas?" The redhead reiterated.

[_Has Mami always been this oblivious?_] Homura asked her, actually feeling the urge to smile at the blonde.

[_It's been a while since I've spent any leisure time with her, so I'd forgotten,_] Kyouko sighed. [_But...yeah. She's not perfectly mature in all areas, to say the least._]

[_Seems like a weakness you would exploit often._]

[_Oh, and I would,_] Kyouko snickered back, a bit of her usual mischief returning. But it quickly faded. [_But when she never understands a single one of your jokes, it gets old kind of fast._]

[_You have my sympathy._]

"Have you contacted Mishki-san?" Kiku said, her voice bringing them back to the topic at hand. "We haven't seen her since we parted ways at the train, and we haven't even called her since."

"We should go check on her sometime," Mami mused, finishing her drink. "Mitakihara can be confusing to a newcomer."

"Why not go now?" Kyouko suggested, showing her palms. "It's not like we've got anything better to do..."

"A fact I'm becoming more and more painfully aware of," Mami sighed back, gathering up the cups and taking them to the sink. "I have Mishki's address written down, so we can just find our way there using that."

"Let's go!" Kiku urged them, grabbing her things and sliding off the counter. Mami smiled bemusedly and followed her, saying something motherly that Homura didn't catch.

Kyouko made to trail after them, then noticed that the time traveler seemed to be spacing out. "Homura?"

She blinked. "Yes? Oh. Right, I'm coming."

She grabbed a coat and scarf off a hook before preparing to leave, but she was already wandering elsewhere in her mind. For just a moment, between the lulls of the conversation, she had begun thinking back to the piano, and the disjointed ladder of chords she had managed to squeeze out.

It hadn't been much, but it was something.

She didn't know what it was; perhaps it was excitement, or maybe she didn't handle playing music in front of an audience very well. But there was a strange energy inside her, something that was looking forward to the future, one where she would play longer, cleaner progressions, and some day be much more proficient than she was today.

It was anticipation, this sense of something new, and it was totally fresh to her. Foreign. The idea of _new_...it was almost ridiculous. It felt like her entire life had been totally consumed by a deafening sameness...but now things were changing, piece by piece.

Slipping her arms into her coat, Homura unlocked the front door and stepped into the world beyond, her fingers tapping that same swaying melody onto her thigh.

_I guess I've found my hobby._

* * *

><p>The temperature outside was a balmy thirty two degrees; just enough to make your fingers numb if you kept them outside of your pockets long enough. Frankly, Homura didn't feel the urge to complain. It had been considerably colder before they had left for Kazamino, and back then the sun hadn't even been out, as the brooding snowstorms had swallowed the star from the sky.<p>

"Where does Mishki live, again?" Kyouko asked, adjusting her thick woolen scarf around her chin.

"Nearby here," Mami replied, waving a small scrap of paper for them to see. Her hands were clad in a pair of thick gloves. "I offered to let her live in my place when we got back, but she refused on the grounds that I was already housing Kiku. Besides, she said she wanted a place to herself."

Their footsteps crunched on the pavement as they walked together, following Mami's lead as she tried to discern the directions she had scrawled down. It was getting slowly warmer, and the snow was rapidly loosing its encroaching grip on the city, but someone had still seen it fit to scatter salt across the sidewalk. Exhaling through her nose, Homura watched her breath crystallize and billow outwards, as if all the bad air she had built up over the years were escaping into the frigid winter cold.

The sky was a pale blue, almost white. The slew of high-rise apartments that dominated this part of the city drew a solemn silhouette across the horizon, giving Homura the impression that she was surrounded by a league of ice capped mountains, plain and wholly forgiving in their uniformity.

"Living together, huh?" Kyouko said, her breath also fogging. "Must be paradise for you, eh?" She called out, directing her words at Kiku.

The illusionist flushed subtly and rubbed at her face. She could play it off as a result of the cold. "Well, of course. Living with a friend is always fun," She said simply, but it was obvious that she more than understood Kyouko's meaning.

Homura tried to focus on the little mounds of snow that had been piled on the sides of the road as Kyouko laughed out loud. "So, what did you wish for at the shrine? I'm very interested to hear..."

Kiku's blush deepened to the point that it couldn't be blamed on the wind. "I-I just asked for another good year, of course," She said defensively. "What else would I need to ask for?"

"What more, indeed?" Kyouko echoed, wiggling her eyebrows playfully. "Some _stimulating_ tea sounds like a good place to start."

"Oh, I know a few brews for that," Mami said sagely, nodding to herself. "Some teas can be _especially _stimulating if you make them right."

Homura stifled a laugh, drawing a confused look from the blonde.

"What a great idea, Mami," Kyouko grinned, looping one arm around Homura's shoulders as they walked, side by side. "You should teach me how to make this _especially _stimulating tea sometime."

"I don't mind," Mami said, shrugging. "Though I have no idea what you would use it for. And why do you keep saying it like that?"

A look of pure dismay had crossed Kiku's face by now, made worse when even Homura had to keep another guffaw from escaping. If even Homura thought it was funny, she was probably doing something wrong.

"Jeez," The illusionist griped, shoving her hands into her pockets. "Do I have to have wished for something perverted?"

"Don't tease Kiku so much, you two," Mami scolded, reaching out to loop her arm through the brunette's. Kiku's blush returned with a vengeance. "We're just friends, right?"

Kiku stared up at her. "...Right," She said, earning a nod from the blonde.

"Right."

* * *

><p>As it turned out, Mishki lived in the apartment building directly across the street from Mami, a fact that the blonde was supremely surprised to discover. It had rained a little the previous night, and the hinges on the front door were frozen over as Kyouko pried it open, cracking the fine layer of frost in the process. The four of them admitted themselves in, taking a moment to stop by the building's blueprint and figure out how to reach the twelfth floor.<p>

"This should be it," Mami said, stopping in front of a wooden door with the numbers _765 _emblazoned across it. They were at the end of a long hall, and the carpet flooring beneath their feet felt worn and out of shape. It wasn't that bad of a place to live by any means, but it wasn't anything special either. Reaching out, Kiku pressed the doorbell.

"Coming," called out a soft voice from behind the door, and Homura heard fleeting footsteps heading towards them. "Not now, Four," Mishki murmured. A moment later, there was the sound of a lock being undone, and the guide herself was peeking at them through a small crack in the door.

"Oh, what do you know," Mishki said, flashing them a welcoming smile. "You haven't forgotten about me after all."

"As if we could ever neglect you, Mishki," Kyouko said loftily, stepping forward as the guide undid a second lock and pulled the door wide open. "How have you been?"

Mishki gestured for them to let themselves in. The small girl was dressed in casual slacks and a loose sweater, a office-like look that made her look significantly older than she probably was. It occurred to Homura that she still knew next to nothing about the guide.

The four of them filed into the small apartment, unsure of how formally they were supposed to conduct themselves. Homura considered Mishki a friend and a close ally, but they had been brought together by work and had never conducted anything otherwise. She had already known Mami and Kiku personally, but getting a peek into the guide's everyday home was a little odd.

"Well enough," Mishki replied, leading them into the first room. It was a rather standard layout; a small television sat against one wall, and the door to a kitchen sat in the other. Before them, dominating the wall furthest from the door, a sliding patio screen kept the wind out. Homura could see all of Mitakihara from the floor of this high rise apartment, in its entire frozen glory.

"It's not much," The guide said almost apologetically, stopping and turning to face them once they had all gathered in the main room, hands clasped behind her back. "But it was the best we could manage. Thankfully, the twins are still both small enough to have space to run around."

Homura took a moment to look around. There weren't any lights on this early in the morning, but enough windows and crevices dotted the walls to allow ample light in. The walls were painted a pleasant olive color, and she thought she smelled a trace of latent peppermint, though she didn't know if Mishki was the type to think about air fresheners. What little items the guide had laying about were arranged neatly on shelfs and tables. A small, elegantly designed kettle was boiling water on the kitchen counter, which Homura could just barely make out through the open door.

It was...quaint, to say the least.

"How did you manage to get your hands on this apartment?" Mami asked, spinning in slow circles as she spoke. A pair of footsteps echoed somewhere else in the building, reminding them that the twins were also living here with the guide.

"Almost all the girls back at Kazamino decided to pitch in," Mishki said, crossing her arms and smiling. "I wanted nothing to do with charity, but Seiyaku insisted, and the others were more than willing. Those who had enough to give agreed to cover my rent for a little while. I plan to find some way of providing for the three of us, though. I don't know when we'll ever be going back to Kazamino, and I don't want to rely on the welfare of others until then."

"Will you get a job?" Kiku asked curiously, taking a seat at a squat coffee table situated by the balcony. She turned and peered past the glass sliding door and down at the terrifying drop below, before pulling back after vertigo struck her.

"Maybe," Mishki said. Meanwhile, Kyouko took her own seat across from the illusionist and stretched luxuriously. It was nearly noon, and a cold sun was streaming in through the windows. The day was just beginning. "I don't have anything more than the bare minimum when it comes to certificates or education, but I can learn skills rather quickly. It's a talent of mine."

Homura who had been standing just in front of the balcony door with her hands slipped into her pockets, frowned a little bit when she heard this. "Mishki," She said slowly, though she kept her eyes fixed on the cityscape, "How old were you, again?"

The diminutive girl looked up at her.

"Twenty," She said, rather innocently.

There was a moment of deafening silence as everyone's brains processed this information.

"Please tell me you aren't an elf or something," Kyouko said, clapping her hands together and bowing her head.

"_What?_" Mishki said, nonplussed. She turned around and found the rest of the girls staring at her with equal incredulity.

"Twenty years old?" Kiku almost shouted, slapping her hands onto the table and leaping out of her seat. "But you look like a middle schooler!"

Mishki's eyes caught fire.

"Woah, woah," The illusionist backtracked, waving her hands around before her person. "Just kidding, Mishki. You look totally old! Super old! You could be my grandmother!"

Homura sighed from her spot by the window. "You aren't helping." Kiku closed her mouth and retreated back to her seat, blushing to the roots of her hair.

Mishki simply shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'm just a little small for my age, okay?" She said irritably.

_Just a little?_ Kyouko wanted to guffaw, and she opened her mouth to say just that, but Homura preempted her.

[_Don't._]

The redhead pouted. [_Killjoy._]

[_I'd rather kill your joy than have Mishki kill you._]

Mami clapped her hands together, exerting her motherly aura with full force. Despite no longer being the oldest person in the room (as they had all assumed her to be), Mishki and Kyouko both quieted down without complication. "Anyways, we were just here to check up on you," The blonde said to the guide. "Mitakihara's a big place, so we thought you might need some help getting around, things like that."

Mishki laughed and shook her head. "I appreciate the thought, but that won't be necessary," She said. "I've been through here before. I know the ins and outs better than most people do."

Mami seemed a little hurt that she couldn't be as useful as she had hoped, and the guide noticed. "But..." She resumed, casting about for another topic. "I would like to send the twins to school eventually, and I don't really know the difference between all the schools they have around here...maybe you could help me with that?"

The blonde's expression brightened up, and Mishki guided them both away as she began to list all the elementary schools in the prefecture, much to Kyouko's exasperation.

"She never changes, does she?" The redhead said. She felt eyes on her and looked at the door. "Oh, hey."

The twins were peeking out at them from behind the door to the kitchen, each one an identical mirror of the other. Mishki motioned for them to come in as Mami continued talking, trying her best to put up the impression that she was actually listening.

"Oh, they're so cute!" Kiku said, stooping downwards as the children gingerly entered the main room, unused to finding so many people occupying their newfound home. She held her arms out towards the one closest to her, and the little girl obligingly climbed up into the illusionist's arms, who brought the child up to her lap. It occurred to Homura that Kiku had never been formally introduced to the twins.

"Are you seriously holding them like that?" Kyouko asked skeptically. "They're, like, almost ten years old."

"You're never too old to cuddle," Kiku said defensively, squeezing the child closer to her.

"Hmph. I haven't cuddled anyone in years," Kyouko replied, crossing her arms over her chest.

[_Liar,_] Homura murmured. [_Then what would you call yesterday?_]

[_A very, very gentle choke hold._]

[_With tickling?_]

[_Sure._]

Homura snorted.

Meanwhile, the unoccupied twin decided to walk up to Kyouko, regarding the tall redhead with a curious expression on her face. Homura wondered if the redhead was any good with kids, seeing as she herself was absolutely terrible with them. She didn't know how to entertain someone with a four year old brain, and they didn't understand why she was so moody all the time. It was a mutual agreement that they should never attempt to associate with each other.

"Hey, squirt," Kyouko greeted, leaning her elbows on her knees so she could be level with the child. "You're Four, right?"

The kid looked back at her blankly. "I'm Five."

"Of course you are," Kyouko agreed readily, not letting the small mistake trip her up. Homura thought that she would have paused for a good minute if that had happened to her. "So, what's up?"

"Well, yesterday Miki-chan took us to the park..."

Deciding there was nothing for her when it came to the twins, Homura turned around and gently pried open the sliding glass door to the patio. The door hissed open on smooth hinges, and Homura stepped outside, closing her eyes as she inhaled the crisp morning air, the formerly hesitant sun now burning away any last remnants of morning frost.

It wasn't cold enough for her to see her own breath anymore, but she shivered nonetheless; she had left her coat hanging back in the hall, and she stood out on the balcony wearing little more than a loose sweater and an undershirt.

The rest of the girls continued to chatter noisily behind her, but Homura figured it would be a little rude of her turn around and close the door on them. It wasn't even her house, after all. Besides, she didn't really mind. She had lived the vast majority of her life alone with nothing but her thoughts and the deafening silence of an empty room, whether it was within the confines of a lonely hospital room, or the hollow halls of an empty house.

Standing here, after having to escape the clamor of the other people in her life, had its own novelty to her.

Inside, Mishki shivered when she felt a cold kiss on the nape of her neck. Turning, she saw Homura standing outside, leaning against the chrome railing with a thoughtful look on her face. As she watched, the raven haired girl seemed to frown to herself, reaching up to tuck a stray lock behind her small ear.

"That reminds me, Mami," She said, interrupting the blonde's flow of speech. "I have some tea brewing on the stove. Would you mind checking on it for me?"

Mami brightened and clapped her hands together. "Oh, tea!" She exclaimed, rushing off to the kitchen to do just that.

Kyouko snorted with laughter once the blonde had disappeared behind the door. "Oh, tea!" She mimicked. Mishki just sighed. Padding across the room to where the patio was, she ruffled Four's head in passing before slipping through the door, leaving a brief word for Kyouko and Kiku to look after the twins. Homura turned and looked at her as she stepped onto the balcony, gently sliding the door closed behind her.

"Enjoying the view?" Mishki asked, leaning against the glass momentarily before being forced to stand back up. The pane was freezing cold.

Homura turned back to regard the cityscape sprawling out below her. "Not really," she said, as Mishki walked forward and joined her by the railing. "It's a view I've seen countless times before."

"Anything wrong with that?" Mishki asked, peering down at the sheer drop below them. A pair of morning birds were chittering about something on an awning above them, giving a thin backdrop to the otherwise sluggish, metropolitan atmosphere.

"Maybe," Homura said, clasping her hands together and breathing slowly into them. "I'm a little tired of things being the same all the time."

"But things are changing for you, aren't they?" Mishki pointed out. She held out one hand and started ticking her fingers off. "You've got a girlfriend now. You're living together. And according to what Mami tells me, you didn't really get along with her or Hanezawa-san before all this. I'd say you're life is undergoing a profound change at the moment."

Homura stared out over Mitakihara, thinking that she wanted to drink something warm. Mishki was right, she supposed. Things _were_ changing. When she had woken up in the New World with a crimson ribbon tied to her wrist, she never would have expected herself to end up as she was today. Visiting a good friend's apartment, sleeping in, having an intimate moment with Kyouko; these were all recent additions to her life, ones that she hadn't expected to receive, since the thought had never crossed her mind prior.

But now that she had these things, her mind could only think of what more there was to come. Once school resumed, would Kyouko start attending it with her? What would a long term relationship with her shape up to be like? Would they even make it that far? How would Mami and Kiku factor into her life? What was she going to do once she graduated? All these questions without answers, which was a jarring revelation in its own right, because in the past Homura had always had a plan. Even when the Radix had shown up, even during the battle for the Church, she had had a plan. This new frontier, this _ambiguity_, was completely foreign to her.

But of course, most importantly, what was she going to do with herself?

Mishki eyed the girl's conflicted expression and laughed, earning herself a cross look. "Sorry," She chuckled, her breath steaming a little bit in the cold. "But you just look so _lost._"

"Sue me," Homura muttered, averting her gaze. "I don't even know what to do with all this free time. Ask me what I have planned for tomorrow."

Mishki blinked. "What are you up to tomorrow?"

The time traveler surprised the guide by throwing her arms way up in the air, a particularly large gesture for the usually still girl. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing! I could lay in bed all day and rot into a corpse and not a single soul would wonder where I am. Disregarding school, I have zero obligations right now. Zero!"

Mishki laughed loudly again. "What? That sounds like paradise to me!"

But Homura dropped her arms back down and shook her head, leaning against the railing again. "I don't think you understand," She said, staring at something hidden beyond the horizon. "When I still had demons to fight, I wanted nothing more than to be able to walk away from it all. But now that I have, the only thing I'm capable of doing is sitting on my own palms. That doesn't mean I want to go back into that life, though. Never in a thousand years. But at the same time, I feel so _useless_. I don't know what I'm going to do today, and I don't know what I'm going to do tomorrow. I don't _know_."

Mishki had suppressed her laughter by now, and she regarded the younger girl before her with marked sympathy. Contrary to Homura's statement, she felt that she understood the girl fully. For all the planning and structure Homura chose to put into her life, the time traveler was someone who needed new horizons to reach for. Once one frontier had been conquered, she needed another one to sink her teeth into. She supposed that was what made Homura special. Most other people would have been perfectly content to languish in comfort for the rest of their lives, never accomplishing anything of note. Not Homura, though. Once the girl established herself in something, she immediately began to itch for something new to do, some new field to picket.

_You poor soul,_ Mishki thought, turning her head to cast a brief glance back inside. Kyouko seemed to be playing a game with the twins. _The past year or so must have been terrible for you. Stuck fighting the same enemies, with no room to pursue anything else. For someone with a sense of adventure like you, it must have been hell._

_"_I don't think you have as little going on your life as you think," Mishki said aloud, drawing Homura's attention again. "First of all, you're in a relationship now. And I won't pretend to be a guru or anything, but that's a big commitment, especially considering the two of you are already living under the same roof." She paused to gather her thoughts. "Having another person in your life, whether it ends well or not, is going to stay with you forever. It isn't something that should be taken too lightly."

Homura stared at her, and for a moment Mishki was afraid she had said too much. She was older than the girl, but she didn't know how to comfort or lecture people. But the time traveler simply nodded in agreement.

"Not to mention you're a year from getting out of high school," Mishki continued, figuring she might as well speak her mind. "You probably haven't been able to put enough time into your studies to warrant going to college, but there are still questions you need to answer. How are you going to eat? Where are you going to live? I've seen your apartment, and I'm sorry, but you two can't keep sleeping in there forever. Which reminds me, how does Kyouko factor into your future?"

Homura blinked, honestly looking a bit overwhelmed. "I...I don't know," She finally admitted, looking crushed at having to say it yet again.

"Precisely," Mishki said, reaching out a grasping the shield user's shoulder. "And that's the beauty of it. I think the reason you're floundering right now, Homura, is because you haven't had to think about tomorrow for a long time. Why would you? It was the same every day; demons, and more demons. It was a small luxury, but it's also one you don't have anymore. What happens tomorrow is _your_ choice now. You have to decide where you're going to go, and how you're going to get there. You could do a thousand things tomorrow, instead of just one. Is that really something to be afraid of?"

Homura seemed to gaze into the guide's eyes, and Mishki had to suppress the urge to shift uncomfortably. She might be the adult figure in this conversation, but there was a profound maturity behind those violet orbs. Akemi Homura was no child. She was more than capable of achieving anything if she chose to put her back behind it; but Mishki was there to provide her with the idea, the thought that perhaps Homura _could_ grow into her own person, not the magical girl defined by her battles and her abilities, but into a genuine individual. Someone with faults, strengths, regrets and fond memories.

Someone human.

Finally, the raven haired girl broke out into a small smile. "I understand what you mean, Mishki," She said, bowing her head. "Thank you."

Mishki simply stared back, unsure if she had really made her point as well as she could have. "Good," She said, squeezing Homura's shoulder. "Good." Turning, she made to reenter the apartment, and the girl did not stop her.

_Seems like I was able to remind her of her priorities,_ she thought as she pulled the door open again, sighing when the heated air inside rose to greet her. _They should keep her occupied for a while._

But what would Akemi Homura do, she wondered, when that was over? Once the time traveler had answered all the questions Mishki had posed to her, what would she sacrifice to discover a new frontier?

She supposed that was up for Homura to decide.

* * *

><p>They ended up staying a lot later than they had originally planned.<p>

Truth be told, Homura had wanted to keep the visit short before returning home, but once she thought about it, such a prerogative was pointless. It wasn't as if she had anything urgently awaiting her arrival back home.

So she had stayed, giving in surprisingly easily when Mishki invited them all to stay for lunch, and caving when Kyouko wanted to stay still longer to spend some more time with the twins. The redhead seemed to have taken a strong liking to the two children, and she sat on the floor interacting with them for hours on end, playing games and holding limited conversation. Homura could only hope she wasn't teach them anything that would taint their relatively pure minds.

Kiku dug up some rum cakes from the fridge and mistook them for muffins, and managed to down three of the things before Mishki caught her. By then it was already too late, and it turned out that the illusionist's constitution was even flimsier than Homura's; the brunette staggered around the apartment before Mami sat her gently down in the middle of the living room, saying incoherent things through a slurred tongue.

"Thishh is outrageousss!" Kiku almost bellowed, attempting to point a finger at Mishki but framing a pot instead. "Twenty yearsh old? Imposhible! I always thought you were, like, twelve!" The girl's face was a shocking shade of red.

"I don't look _that_ young," Mishki bristled, though she checked herself since she knew Kiku was drunk. "Besides, do you really think Seiyaku could hand off possession of the kids to a minor?"

Kyouko laughed. "Do you remember the last time we had some rum cakes?" She asked Homura, who was sitting beside her on the couch. All five of them were gathered around a small table sitting in the middle of the living room, watching the twins run while hugging the walls.

Homura rolled her eyes. "Yes, unfortunately."

"What happened?" Mishki asked, eyes sparking with curiosity.

Kyouko shook her head, grinning secretively. "Let's just say it made me consider carrying around contraceptives," She said, draping an arm over Homura's shoulders.

The shield user went beet red. "We did _not_ do what you are suggesting we did."

"What?" Kyouko asked innocently. "I'm not suggesting anything."

Four, who had stopped running for a moment to listen in on the "adults'" conversation, trotted up to the redhead and said, "Kyou-chan, what are 'contraptaives'?"

"Jeez, do they not teach any of these things in school anymore?" Kyouko said in mock disgust. "Alright, kid. Have a seat here. Uncle Kyouko's gonna teach you about a little something called the birds and the bees-"

Homura gently smacked Kyouko on the head. "They're too young to be learning that."

Kiku, who had by now exhausted her anger over the injustice of Mishki's true age, was fast asleep. The brunette's body had slumped over without anything to lean against, and she snored peacefully in Mami's lap instead, the blonde stroking Kiku's hair with an affectionately exasperated looK on her face. Homura wondered how close to cloud nine Kiku would get if she found out how close she was to Mami at the moment.

Mishki laughed. "'Uncle Kyouko?' So what, is she Auntie Homura now?"

Homura frowned. "Please don't call me that. And why am I automatically the woman in the relationship?"

Mishki blinked. "Well, I mean...do you want to be the man?"

Homura turned and stared at Kyouko for a moment before lowering her head. "I guess not."

The guide leaned back and finished off the rest of her drink before speaking again. "And since I'm assuming Kyouko is always on top, it's safe to say that she's the man in the relationship," She snickered, making Homura flush.

"On top of what?" Mami asked curiously, tilting her head.

The three of them stared at her.

"On top of...the man rankings, of course," Mishki said, seeming to realize that the blonde had totally missed the innuendo.

Mami furrowed her brow. "Was there ever such a thing?"

"Homura, I'm going to start dinner. Would you mind running to the convenience store and picking up a few things?" Mishki said suddenly, opting for a complete change in topic. Homura started and turned to face the older girl, caught off guard.

"Well, I don't mind," She said uncertainly, putting her drink down and getting up. "So we're staying for dinner too?"

"Of course you are. Take Kyouko with you," Mishki ushered, waving the young couple off. Homura rolled her eyes and reached out with one hand. The redhead grasped it, and Homura pulled the girl to her feet before heading to the door.

"So, you reckon they've gotten to second base yet?" Homura heard Mishki say in Mami's general direction. The shield user shook her head as she shrugged her coat on. Kyouko just snickered.

"I'm sorry, I don't know much about baseball," Mami responded politely.

This time, Kyouko and Homura managed to close the door behind them before laughing.

* * *

><p>It was the height of evening again when they stepped outside Mishki's apartment building, and that meant it was black as night, with plenty of frost. Homura shivered and tried to slip her hands into her pockets, but Kyouko reached out and twined their fingers together, and she opted for that instead. It was warmer.<p>

If Homura turned, she could see Mishki's window blazing with light from the twelfth floor. She couldn't hear them anymore, but she imagined Mishki was having fun messing with Mami, as Kiku continued to snore happily away.

They walked, hand in hand, searching for the nearest convenience store. Homura figured that Mishki actually had all the ingredients she needed, but searched regardless, not wanting to return emptyhanded. They didn't talk much as they walked, but they didn't need to, as they were content at the moment to simply be in each others' presence. Homura found that when she had the redhead around her, things seemed a little more in order, and it was easier for her to remain calm about things. It was funny, really. For all the chaos Kyouko had brought to her life, the redhead was also a stabilizing force.

She wouldn't ever say all that out loud, of course.

They walked for ten minutes before finding a small store nestled in the corner of an avenue, its bright neon lights making it still out like a sore thumb. Realizing they hadn't received any specific instructions, Homura browed for a few minutes and bought a small array of basic ingredients that could be used in a variety of common dinner foods. After a moment's consideration, Kyouko ran off and returned with a few pieces of gum for the twins. The move surprised her. Just another reminder that she had other people to keep in mind now, not just herself, not just Kyouko.

It was as if the world had grown a little bigger, stretching to fit these knew additions to her life. With the increased size came new opportunities, and the chance to discover something unprecedented.

She found it rather exciting.

The streets were strangely empty when they emerged from the store, a mechanical voice thanking them for their patronage after they had paid. Street lamps illuminated the road at regular intervals, like steps marking the way to something hiding out at the edge of the horizon. Homura wondered if, were she to follow those steps without knowing where they led, she would find herself in an even better place. She wasn't so sure about that. It would mean going into things blind.

Though, sometimes that became necessary.

Raising her eyes, Homura followed the lamps' luminescence upwards, until they mixed with a more orange light shining vibrantly from somewhere deeper in the city, as if Mitakihara's very core and chosen to emerge from the earth.

"Wonder what that is?" Kyouko said, her breath fogging as she observed the spectacle. Soft music throbbed from that general direction, and the light was constant and strong. The redhead shrugged and turned away, but Homura reached out and grabbed her hand, forcing the girl to look back.

"Let's take a detour," Homura suggested, and Kyouko smiled.

* * *

><p>She didn't really consider it a place very close to her heart, but Homura had developed a fondness for the little park that sat atop the hill, where she and Junko Kaname had had their chess game all those weeks ago. She still had the woman's chess board, sitting at home in the depths of her closet, waiting to be returned to its owner. Homura supposed that one day, she may get the chance to hand the pieces back. Or maybe she wouldn't. In all honestly, she had no idea.<p>

And that was okay.

They were both a little out of breath when they reached the top of the hill, as they had all but jogged up to the crest. But the ragged breaths were worth it; from here Homura could see the light for what it really was, in all its iridescent glory.

"It's a festival," Kyouko noted, coming to a stop by the time traveler's side. She was right. A long, thick trail of people were crowded in the center of the city, all gathered to celebrate another turning of the calendar. The music she had heard earlier was actually the muted din of all those people, surrounded by a sea of blazing lights. Homura had read somewhere that most things only attained their color by reflecting light, but the festival below them seemed to emanate an illumination of its very own, a fingerprint color that could not be replicated through any means. It was unique, but it was also mysterious, and Homura's eyes reflected the lively orange sea below her as she stared, drinking the sight up.

"A new year, huh?" Kyouko sighed, her breath snaking out into the night air. The light pollution was strong tonight, but they could still see the stars, an array of constellations forming a dome over their heads. Homura imagined that there were an endless amount of worlds out there, and that each one was holdings its own festival, lighting the galaxy with an amiable love for the next year, and for the unknown.

Turning, Homura saw the lake in the distance. It wasn't frozen over anymore, and calm waves lapped at its shores. It was another place she considered special. Mitakihara had just been a place to hunt demons to her, in the past. But now certain places had meaning.

"Yeah," Homura said, squeezing the redhead's hand. "A new year."

"I wonder what will change?" Kyouko said aloud, posing the question to no one in particular, maybe even to the people milling about below them. "I wonder what kind of person I'll become..."

Homura smiled.

"It's impossible to tell," She said, letting go of Kyouko's hand and taking a few steps forward before spinning back around, flashing an incredibly rare full toothed grin. The redhead's eyes dilated as she watched, momentarily captivated. Homura looked beautiful when she smiled like that, and she would have liked to see it more often, but its rarity was what made it special.

"But," Homura continued, spreading her arms wide to behold the heavens above them, "I think that's alright. To not know, I mean. It can be a little disheartening to cut out the chance for pleasant surprises."

"You aren't afraid?" Kyouko asked softly, taking a step towards the girl. The frosted grass crunched gently beneath her boots, and a frigid wind cut between them, as if to remind them of everything that could go wrong.

But Homura just shook her head, closing the distance between them. She reached up and pulled Kyouko a little closer, so close that their noses almost touched. It wasn't like her to be this intimate without prompting, but something had suffused her. Something optimistic. Something good.

"I think," She breathed, "That as long as I have you, I won't have to be afraid."

Biting her lip, Homura looked up, awaiting the redhead's response.

Kyouko was staring at her in wonder, the light of a thousand suns breathing through her irises.

Then, laughing, she rested their foreheads together.

"That has got to be the cheesiest line I've ever heard."

Kyouko kissed her then, and it became even cheesier. But she didn't care. She was content.

Above them, nebulas whirled past like passing flames, bringing with them the excitement of the unknown.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, this came out a lot sooner than I thought it would, which is just as well. No point in stalling.<strong>

**Tell me what you guys think about the set up so far. I don't really have a concrete plan for this Part, so I'm going to be pretty flexible with what could happen. I'm also open to any ideas, as long as they aren't too crazy. And for those who asked, I plan to develop Mami and Kiku some more, though I don't know how far.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Banshee**


	23. Crowns and Bouquets

Chapter 23: Crowns and Bouquets

They came home particularly late that night, but Homura usually slept late anyways. Kyouko was considerably more ragged than she was, however, after spending the entire day entertaining the twins. The redhead dragged herself upstairs and excused herself to the depths of sleep first, but not before Homura insisted that she change her clothes first.

"You're _such_ a clean freak," Kyouko complained as Homura dug out some night clothes for her, tossing the articles at the girl. She caught them begrudgingly. It occurred to Homura that the redhead probably needed a change of underwear too, but she drew the line there. Kyouko could handle that herself if she wanted to.

"It's for your own good," The raven haired girl replied, putting her hands on her hips. "You went through the whole day in those clothes. Do you really want to fall asleep in them too?"

Kyouko rolled her eyes and hooked her fingers underneath the hem of her shirt, beginning to pull it upwards. Homura took this as her cue to leave and turned away, reaching for the door.

The redhead smirked. "Don't you want to watch?"

"Goodnight, Kyouko," Homura said, closing the door behind her.

Once she was downstairs, the shield user wondered what was going to do to occupy herself. It wasn't quite midnight yet, and she still had a little energy left to burn...it fact, she had a lot. She felt almost restless, standing here in the middle of the living room, her fingers itching to do something. It was queer, considering she used to drag herself to bed every night. But then she remembered that was only because of late night hunts.

Blinking slowly, she looked around. It was too late to play the piano, and even if she were to try she had nothing to play. That was something she had to remedy, she thought, as she paced around the room and gazed languidly at the furniture. Something to do tomorrow. Good.

Pausing, Homura let her feet slide to a stop beneath her. In truth, her mind was not totally devoid of ideas. She had the ghost of a thought lingering at her fingertips, waiting to be given shape. Something that needed to be expressed, though it had no clarity. Twisting her mouth in confusion, Homura scavenged around the room for some writing material, and eventually procured a pen and sheaf of paper.

Placing both items before her on the kitchen counter, she drew up a stool and stared, almost timidly, and the blank white square.

The paper stared back, as if prompting her with an intangible question. Why had she done this? She had nothing in particular that she wanted to write. Or perhaps there was; perhaps that was the explanation behind the strange buzz in her hands, this feeling in her chest. She supposed that this was why writing had been invented to begin with, so that one may give shape to their thoughts and emotions.

Picking up the pen, Homura began to scrawl.

_Today I made a promise..._

* * *

><p>The rest of winter break passed rather quickly after that. For Homura it was a time of recuperation, and an opportunity to become used to her new surroundings.<p>

She had finished writing her short message of sorts within the hour, and she had gazed at it afterwards, wondering who it was addressed to, and for what. Then, making her mind up and adding a few lines to the lines of ink, she folded the letter up and shoved it into the back of her desk before going to sleep. She could think about it later.

Besides, they had questions to answer. First of all was the matter of school; once it resumed, Homura had postulated that Kyouko would begin attending it with her. The redhead flatly refused, of course, as they had all expected. So Homura had filled out the application and sent it in without telling her, which resulted in Kyouko throwing a fit. They didn't speak for a full day and a half, but Homura was willing to wait the other girl out; in terms of patience, she had infinite stamina.

Her theory proved correct; after thirty five hours of largely ignoring Homura's presence, Kyouko walked up behind her and brushed her nose against the time traveler's ear.

"Fine," She muttered, before disappearing down the hall.

The next morning, they were on good terms again.

Mami liked to go over and spend an afternoon of tea with Mishki occasionally, and Kyouko would sometimes join her to see the twins. This meant that the apartment was effectively empty for extended periods of time, and Homura took these occasional opportunities to rebuild her relationship with the piano. She would never admit to Kiku that the brunette's insistence had had some effect on her, but she was enjoying herself. She spent the first handful of days relearning techniques and fundamentals, but they came surprisingly easily. It seemed her fingers remembered more than they let on.

She moved on to actual songs soon after, logically starting with simple melodies. Homura dove back into the dusty basement and managed to root out a few songbooks with piano sheets in them, and she studiously set out to master the majority of these pieces, practicing whenever she had free time, which was basically all the time.

Regardless of her muted zeal, however, Homura never played when Kyouko was around. She always waited until the redhead had headed off to Mishki's place, or was at least sound asleep on a different floor. It wasn't out of spite or anything, but she didn't feel ready to share her music with foreign ears. It was an innate obsession with quality that she had, and though she never expected herself to become particularly good, she wanted to improve first.

Though this limited the extent of how often Homura could play, it still managed to keep her occupied until the end of break. It gave her another thing to look forward too when she went to bed, and it became part of her agenda when she rose in the mornings. Her vacation passed like that, between the intermittent pressing of ivory keys and quiet evenings spent with a certain redhead. Dawns slipped past like thin clouds, and before Homura knew it, it was time to return to school.

She almost overslept on the first day; she had become accustomed to sleeping in an hour or two, a bad habit that Kyouko had successfully managed to rub into her after several consecutive mornings. Luckily her alarm saved her from making that mistake again, and her sense of responsibility completed the process, rousing her a bit after dawn.

Blinking a pair of bleary eyes open, Homura shifted to find herself trapped in Kyouko's embrace; the redhead was snoring into the back of her neck, her arms wrapped firmly around the time traveler's midsection. Closing her eyes again, Homura untangled herself and shook the redhead awake, whispering, "Get up, Kyouko. We have to get ready for school."

The older girl simply groaned and buried her head deeper into the pillow, much to Homura's annoyance. "Do I _have_ to go?"

"Well, compulsory education is back by the law," Homura said, her voice a little hoarse from sleep. "So...yes. You have to."

Kyouko glowered at her with one eye from the depths of her pillow. "Kiku doesn't have to go."

"She's registered as deceased, as you might remember," Homura pointed out. "Not to mention that she would be recognized immediately, and using magic is only a short term solution...anyways, we're getting off topic. I'm showering first; you have five minutes to leave this bed."

Kyouko slugged out something incoherent in response, which Homura took as a confirmation. Sliding out from under the sheets, she padded across the floor and entered the adjoining bathroom, making sure to close the door behind her. Shedding her night clothes, she turned on the shower and waited for the water to heat up before jumping in, closing her eyes as the heat streamed down the length of her spine.

She spent the next five minutes dutifully cleaning herself, moving with a fluidity that was familiar to her. Homura really didn't understand the grievances of girls who claimed to need a full our to get ready in the mornings; if one was precise and efficient, it shouldn't have to take nearly that long. Reaching over for a sponge, she began scrubbing her arms, watching the thick rivulets of soap streaming down to the floor, past her toes and into the infinite blackness of the drain beyond. Her eyes became slightly unfocused in the steam that surrounded her, as the time traveler's thoughts too her elsewhere.

To be honest, she was a little worried; Kyouko hadn't attended school since the very beginnings of middle school, and even before then she hadn't been a terrible social human specimen. While Homura knew that she was far from wildly popular herself, it was still cause for worry. Would Kyouko be able to pay attention during lectures? Would she be able to keep up? Homura expected that she would have to offer the redhead some degree of help, but she knew it would hurt Kyouko's pride to rely on her. She wanted the best for the fanged girl, and it would sting to see her struggle through her education after such a long absence from it.

After shampooing, she let the soap stream out of her hair before switching off the shower. Yawning once, Homura stepped out and toweled herself dry, wringing out her midnight locks, now blacker than ever when water-soaked, she dried those too before casting about for her school uniform.

_Oh, right,_ she thought, reaching for the door. _It's hanging outside._

Then she froze, and swore.

A moment later, someone knocked on the bathroom door from the other side, and Kyouko's voice called out to her.

"Hey, Homura, you done yet?" The voice asked her, sounding impatient despite that veil of sleep still laid over her tone. Homura supposed that was warranted. She had given Kyouko five minutes, and it had been longer. Flinching badly, Homura cast about for a contingency plan but found nothing. Biting her lip, mind racing, she tugged her towel a little tighter around her person.

"Hellooo?" Kyouko called out again, making her start. Pursing her lips, Homura sidled op to the door and opened it just a crack, admitted a small wave of cool air.

"There you are," The redhead grumbled, trying to push the door open wider, but Homura held it as it was. Frowning, Kyouko stared down at her. "What's wrong?"

"Uh..." Homura licked her lips ones, tongue feeling oddly parched despite the steam-infused atmosphere. "I'm...not done changing yet."

The taller girl arched one eyebrow. "Well, you could have just said so. Go ahead, then. I'll wait."

Homura felt her pride shrinking into a tiny little ball and incinerating itself. "I can't."

Kyouko looked at her with a confused expression, not picking up on her meaning immediately. "Why no-" Then she paused, turning to look across the room. Homura's school uniform was hanging from the knob of the dresser, right besides her own, the tan colored sleeves swaying almost coyly in the wind. "Oh," She concluded, sounding meek. Then her face split into a nasty grin. "Ohhhh..."

"Kyouko, this is not the time," Homura said, blushing furiously when the redhead started to laugh outright. "We're already late. Could you hand my uniform to me?"

But Kyouko just crossed her arms, grinning down at the raven haired girl peeking out at her from behind the door. "Oh, I don't know, Homura. I'm not particularly fond of people who wake me up at the crack of dawn."

Homura narrowed her eyes. "It's not as if I wanted to. We have somewhere to be. Now could you _please_ give me my clothes?"

"Alright, alright," Kyouko said, throwing up her hands in mock surrender. Walking over to the dresser, she took Homura's uniform off its hook and carried it over to her, hangar and all, the time traveler eagerly awaiting its arrival. "Here," She said, holding the clothes out for Homura to grab, convincing the shield user that the joke was over. She leaned over to seize the hangar, but not before Kyouko yanked it back from her grip, and Homura's hand grabbed thin air.

_Ah-_ Homura thought as her foot attempted to gain traction but slipped on a small pool of water instead, sending her weight hurtling forward. The door was blasted open as Homura bowled through it and crashed full brunt into Kyouko's front, sending them both down to the ground with a pronounced _oof!_

"Okay, bad idea," Kyouko grunted as she clutched at her head, lifting herself half off the ground. "Oh..."

Homura was sprawled over the redhead's midsection, the girl's black hair pooling out around her like an array of midnight stars. That much was totally fine, and Kyouko was quite enjoying the view. But the fall had also undone Homura's loosely tied towel, and the girl's totally exposed front was now squashed against the redhead's chest, meaning that Kyouko was not seeing a _lot_ more than she had initially bargained for.

"You bloody idiot..." Homura muttered, pushing herself up and clutching at the towel wrapped around her chest, before realizing there _was_ no towel wrapped around her chest. A look of pure terror crossing her face, she looked down. Her face went from porcelain white to blood moon red, and Kyouko for the life of her couldn't find the will to look away.

Homura started breathing in really heavily, and she knew her time was up.

"Look, Homura..." Kyouko said, holding her hands up. "We're already late, we should get going..."

Roaring, the time traveler balled up one fist and punched Kyouko as hard as she could.

"DIE!"

* * *

><p>Kyouko rubbed gingerly at her jaw, which was lightly bruising, grumbling quietly to herself. "This is domestic abuse," She grunted.<p>

"I'm not sorry," Homura said pointedly, crossing her arms and looking the other way. Kyouko just snorted and tossed her own head to the side.

The two of them were seating beside each other on the bench of the morning train, admittedly keeping a certain distance between them. They had barely made it to the platform on time, and had had to fight through a mildly thick crowd to board the train. A problem Homura was not used to having, as she was often there ten minutes before the train itself, securing her spot at the front of the platform. But had it really been her fault that Kyouko had so much trouble struggling into a simple school uniform?

The ground rattled beneath them as the train trundled on; this wasn't a gravity powered tube like the inter-city one they had taken, and it ran on traditional tracks. Kyouko's hip jarred painfully against the edge of her seat as she turned and looked at Homura again, quietly observing the girl's cross expression. Kyouko thought Homura looked quite attractive when she was irked about something, in an odd, fierce kind of way. It wasn't very easy to explain, but then again, what about the two of them was easy to explain?

"Hey," She said at last, seeing Homura's eyes flit in her direction. "You still mad?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

Homura sighed and uncrossed her arms, dropping them back into her lap. The chilled sun was streaming in through the dusty windowpanes behind them, smattering the time traveler's hair into a checkerboard of black and white. "No," She admitted at last, glancing at the redhead. Above them, a mechanical voice announced that their stop was upcoming. "It's just..." Her voice trailed off, and Kyouko waited patiently for her to finish.

"...it just makes me uncomfortable when you take things that far," She muttered.

"What-" Kyouko started, but then the train jolted as it began to slow, jolting them both aside. Homura wordlessly picked up her bag and strode towards the door, intending to exit as soon as possible. Kyouko stared at her back for a moment before following, deciding to ask Homura about that last line a little later.

"So...how's my uniform?" Kyouko asked offhandedly, coming to a stop beside the shield user, the doors an inch from her nose. She could see rows of people on the platform whizzing by as she stood, nothing but peach colored smears intermixed with dashes of brown and gray. How drab. Kyouko could tell that Homura was pissed again, but it was something else this time. Something muted.

Homura rolled her eyes. "It's fine, Kyouko."

"You sure?"

"I practically put the whole thing on for you, so yes, I am sure."

Kyouko frowned down at herself, tugging a bit self consciously at the hem of her skirt. It was being worn a little too low for her taste; she didn't like how it tickled at the top of her knees. She had considered hitching it up a bit, considerably actually, but she didn't know how Homura would react to that. "How do I look?" She asked a little coyly, though there was little energy behind it. It was still _way_ too early in the morning.

Homura turned her head and looked Kyouko up and down once before responding. "You look good in it," She said, sounding genuine. Reaching out, she adjusted the redhead's collar carefully, pulling it a bit snug. "You're dressed properly for once." Though she probably meant nothing by it, Homura's eyes lingered on Kyouko a bit too long. "I like it."

Then a high pitched bell rang outside, and the doors hissed open. Homura slipped past her and strode into the platform behind, leaving a slightly stunned Kyouko to stare at her back once again.

Then, shaking her head and taking a few deep breaths to lower her heart rate, she followed.

* * *

><p>They didn't meet Mami on their way from the station to the school, and Homura later explained that this was because the blonde lived in the opposite direction.<p>

This didn't keep Kyouko from glancing nervously about, however, as thin streams of random students began to gather around them. The winding avenues that had led from the station now consolidated into a single road with some thirty students bustling through it, filling the air with whispered good mornings.

Homura caught Kyouko glancing nervously at the chattering passerby and caught her sleeve. "What are you looking around for?" She said, the redhead turning to look at her.

Kyouko _hmphed_ and hoisted her case over her shoulder, letting it dangle from the tips of her fingers. "I don't like being in crowds, is all. And, well..."

Homura listened to the trees lining the road rustle as she waited, willing to let the girl take her time.

Kyouko just pursed her lips. "It's been a while since I've been to school, you know?" She said, fingering at the lapel of her uniform. It still felt blocky and unfamiliar on her; the close fitting clothes felt suffocating. "I've been out of it for a while, and I'm only entering your grade because you helped me with the entrance test...I don't know, Homura. This isn't where I belong."

Homura rolled her eyes. "Enough with the existential crisis," She said. "You'll do just fine if you pay attention. This is only high school. And if you still need help after that, I'll be there for you. But don't just assume you won't be able to do it; that irks me."

Kyouko stared at her. She was thankful for the encouragement, but...

"You know, Homura," She said. "You talk like my grandmother. Can't you just say 'not cool' or something?"

Homura furrowed her brow. "I don't understand that phrase. What does temperature have to do with how impressive something is?"

This time, it was Kyouko's turn to roll her eyes.

Well, she supposed it wouldn't be Homura if she didn't talk like that.

They reached the school a few minutes later, passing through the thick chrome plated gates that had been left gaping open for the students to enter. Kyouko had passed that threshold with a little apprehension; which actually meant that she had stopped dead short of the gate, until Homura had taken it upon herself to shove the redhead forward into a grudging march. Whatever. It was on Homura's head if she ended up flunking out on the first day.

Not that she really wanted to. That would hurt her pride a little too much.

Homura had then led them quietly into the main building, taking them both up several flights of stairs to homeroom. That at least was a concept Kyouko was familiar with, and she did her best to focus on that rather than everything that was going on around her.

After all, Mitakihara High was a vibrant, confusing place; it looked quiet and gracefully modern from the outside, but it couldn't hide the new-age energy housed within. There was no sense of privacy here; the walls were completely see through, and dozens of bored looking teenagers eyed the new girl as she passed by, whispering something about the color of her hair. Little bands of light streamed ahead of them on the plated floors, twisting themselves into morning announcements that she didn't even bother to read. Occasionally they broke into long hallways that were like bridges, suspended over three stories of air. The view offered there showed her a cityscape she wasn't immediately familiar with. The halls were long, winding, and cold; she couldn't imagine how Homura didn't get lost in them. How was she supposed to learn them herself?

Homura finally stopped at the end of the dozenth hall they had gone through, turning on her heel to face the redhead. Kyouko instinctively ground to a halt, still plucking at her skirt.

"Wait here," Homura said, speaking softly. "I'll go tell Saotome-sensei that you're here. We still have to introduce new students, after all."

"Where is everybody?" Kyouko murmured, influenced into lowering her own voice. She peeked into the classroom and found it empty, aside from the modestly dressed woman standing in front of the digital chalkboard.

"New students have to report early on their first day, remember?" Homura sighed, sounding a little exasperated, though it was affectionate.

"What about those kids earlier?" She said, still confused.

"Zero period," Homura provided, pushing a button and letting the door hiss aside. She entered the room, and Kyouko was alone.

_Oh, right, _She thought, moving to shove her hands into her pockets before realizing she didn't have any. She had already been reminded several times that she had no idea what she was doing, here. Homura had always been the more practical one between them, but now the girl was in total control, and Kyouko felt more than a little guilty for making the shield user deal with everything for her. It just didn't feel right.

Homura started gesturing at her through the window, and Kyouko took this as her cue to join them in the room. Walking in front of the door, she stared at the mechanism on the wall for a moment. There was no door handle, just this mysterious looking set of buttons set into a panel on the wall, looking like they held the nuclear launch codes or something. She lifted one hand and was about to mash randomly at the buttons when Homura murmured to her,

[_First one from the top left. And just touch it. It's a scanner, not a button._]

Blushing shamefully, Kyouko brushed her thumb against the scanner and entered the classroom, jumping a little when the door slammed shut behind her again.

"Welcome to Mitakihara High, Sakura-san," said the homely looking woman behind the podium, smiling amiably at her. A pair of thin glasses were perched on her nose, and a short plume of chestnut colored hair stopped just short of her shoulders. So this was Saotome-sensei.

"Oh...uh, thanks," Kyouko grunted at last, clutching at her case. "Nice place you've got here," She said added, probably unnecessarily, gesturing vaguely at the building.

"Ah...yes, indeed," The teacher agreed readily, nodding. Homura just smirked at her, and Kyouko had to resist glaring. "Akemi-san here has already told me a bit about you, Sakura-san. I'm sorry about your parents, by the way. It's fortunate you have relatives here to watch after you."

"Yeah..." Kyouko said, remembering the story they had rehearsed before coming here. She glanced at Homura. "She's pretty cool, for a cousin."

Saotome sighed and poked absentmindedly at her palm using her stick. "Must be nice to get along so well with relatives," She murmured, momentarily distracted from the topic at hand.

[_Yeah,_ _we get along _very_ well,_] Kyouko thought, looking at Homura.

[_Don't get ahead of yourself._]

"Anyways," The teacher said, clapping her hands together, "Let's go speak further in the hall, Sakura. We'll introduce you at the beginning of class, and then we can do things like we normally do. I hope you manage to along with everybody..."

Kyouko looked a little panicked when Saotome-sensei took her hand and began to lead them away from Homura, but the time traveler just waved at her assuringly. It was a rare occurrence, but Homura had to remember that there were often times when the redhead was unsure of herself.

Whenever that happened, Homura wanted to be there for her.

* * *

><p>Homura had taken her seat and waited patiently for class to start then, closing her eyes and thinking as students began to filter in through the door. Soon the room was filled with the usual clamor that resulted when you crammed twenty teenagers into a small space, and Homura had to focus a little harder in order to maintain her half-dormant state of mind. It wasn't that she was instinctively antisocial; she liked conversation, she liked spending time with people...just not all people. <em>Particularly<em> not these people.

Idly, she wondered when Kyouko was going to come in.

The door hissed aside, and Saotome-sensei strode into the room. The students around her hushed themselves and retook their seats, settling in as the woman cleared her throat from behind the podium.

"Welcome back from break, everyone," The teacher sighed. Then she raised her hand a released a long, drawn out yawn before continuing. "Before we get started on anything else, I have to introduce a new addition to the class." She turned and motioned for Kyouko to enter, which made the minor suspense she had built up rather pointless, since they could all see the redhead through the wall anyway. The spear user fumbled with the door for a second before finally entering the classroom, drawing a few snickers from the back row. Homura was mildly ticked by that, but she supposed the ability to open doors was a skill one should be expected to have.

Kyouko trooped into the room, looking all kinds of stiff. Coming to a rigid stop in front of the digital board, she fidgeted in place as Saotome picked up an electric marker and scribbled out the redhead's name in traditional kanji. "This is Sakura Kyouko-san, everyone. You all try to get along with her, alright?" The redhead bowed awkwardly when she was prompted, muttering a brief, "Hey," mostly to herself. The teacher sent her to her seat, which was a few rows behind Homura to the left.

Kyouko nodded meekly and strode down the row, feeling all the eyes on her. She resisted the urge to glare back; that was probably the quickest solution to all this undue attention, but she knew it was no way to make friends. And though she didn't really want to befriend any of these kids, it was better than having enemies.

Reaching her seat by the window, she gingerly took her seat, reaching up to toy at the ribbon in her hair. She had paid extra attention to her ponytail today, understanding at least that certain hairstyles could be coded in schools, which she found to be profoundly ridiculous. Nobody was going to contract herpes from looking at a gaudy hairstyle. Not that she even _had_ a gaudy hairstyle.

The teacher cleared her throat and began the lesson, which took some of the heat off of her. She sighed in muted relief when the attention largely shifted to the front of the classroom. It had made her more than a little uncomfortable, and she didn't like how some of the guys in the back had been grinning at her. Maybe it had been a good idea to keep her skirt low.

"She's kind of hot," said a low voice in the back, making Kyouko's ears twitch. The words were whispered quietly, but her enhanced hearing picked them up regardless. She only frowned passively to herself, but when she looked to the right she saw Homura crushing a pencil in her grip.

The redhead stifled a laugh.

"I have a very important topic to discuss with all of you today," Saotome-sensei said curtly, her tone earning Kyouko's attention. "Should toilet paper by racked over or under? What do you think, Nakazawa-kun?!"

The silver haired boy sitting in the front row blanched. "Um..."

"Tell me!" The woman thundered, waving her stick around wildly.

The rest of the students looked at him sympathetically as he fumbled, before mumbling, "I...I supposed either is fine?"

Saotome nodded vigorously before returning to her podium, crossing her arms. "Listen closely, boys and girls! Don't date a man or woman who absolutely insists that toilet paper must come from _under!_ Such pitifully small minded people can only be regarded as the scum of society. I want you all to go home today and appreciate your toilet paper, and realize that they are all created equal! Do you understand?"

_What's up with this teacher? _Kyouko thought to herself, as the rest of the class begrudgingly accepted. She folded her arms behind her head.

_Besides, everyone knows that toilet paper goes under._

* * *

><p>The rest of the class passed more slowly than usual for Homura, mostly because half of her mental radar was focused on the seat behind her, two spaces to the left. For all her assurances, Homura knew that anyone was going to have a great deal of trouble integrating themselves into the public school system this late; she felt that it was her responsibility to ensure that Kyouko didn't fall too far behind. She didn't expect the girl to top any classes, but she didn't intend to let her fail either.<p>

Luckily, Kyouko seemed to be motivated to keep up. Homura supposed it was mostly an issue with pride, but regardless of the reason, the spear wielder actually seemed to pay attention for most of the lecture, after Saotome-sensei had completed her rant about the various merits of toilet paper. She didn't ask or answer any questions, but she quietly took notes and stared hard at whatever was demonstrated on the board. She did steal a few glances at Homura from time to time, and whenever this happened the raven haired girl felt a small buzz on the back of her neck. School had always been a place of solitude for her, so having Kyouko sitting ten feet away was a little jarring.

Two periods passed eventually, and the bell signaling their lunch break rang out over the school. Homura gathered her things slowly as the rest of the class filtered out; it wasn't as if any of them were waiting for her. She usually ate alone on the roof, but she supposed Kyouko would be joining her up there from now on. The idea of being alone with the redhead on the rooftop made her think.

Closing her case, she turned to call out to the girl in question, but caught herself.

A small knot of students was surrounding Kyouko's desk, carrying an amiable conversation with the redhead. Homura closed her mouth and leaned against her desk instead, listening passively to the back and forth.

"So where you from?" Asked one boy.

"Kazamino," Kyouko answered promptly, flashing a winning smile. A bevy of impressed "ooohs" swam through the air. Homura thought that this was the difference between them. The redhead really had charisma, and she could make friends if she put her mind to it. That was something Homura felt she would never achieve so easily, no matter how hard she tried.

"Your hair is so long," Another girl marveled, reaching out to stroke at Kyouko's crimson locks. Homura expected her to pull away, but instead she held still, letting the fingers brush gently against her hair.

"Thanks," She said, sounding genuine. "I like to grow it out."

"Listen, are you busy today?" A second boy asked, leaning against the redhead's desk. "If not, we could-"

"Maybe later," Kyouko said, cutting him off midway. She looked up and saw Homura waiting for her and stood up, earning herself a little more personal space. "It was nice meeting you guys, though." She brushed past them without another word, crossing the room and clapping Homura on the shoulder. The shield user rolled her eyes and turned to leave, but not before seeing the surprised looks of the students behind them.

_Well, I never really told anyone that I had a cousin,_ She thought, as the door hissed closed behind them.

They made their way down the hall, through small groups of friends enjoying their lunch. The two of them drew a few stares as they walked, and though Homura ignored most of them, she returned a handful with her own cool gaze. That was usually enough to deter the onlookers, though she heard them whispering.

"I guess you're making an impression," Homura said. "You're getting lots of looks."

Kyouko eyed the time traveler. She figured that this was part of the reason, but she also felt that it wasn't the whole story. She didn't have any concrete evidence, but something told her that seeing Homura head to lunch with a friend wasn't a very common sight.

"Of course I am," She snorted at last, putting her hands on her hips. "Why wouldn't people want to get to know me?"

Homura smiled in exasperation. Though she didn't really subscribe to the impact of first impressions, she had always known that Kyouko had that archetypal "cool" aura about her; she didn't really care for it herself, as she knew the redhead's true nature, but a stranger might be convinced. It was understandable. Kyouko was tall, with a wild mane of red tumbling down her back, a confident stance and a fierce set of fangs. She looked you in the eye when speaking, and she didn't beat around the bush. She was a tough as the streets she had grown up in, and that came with its own kind of charisma. Homura supposed that this was what drew people to the redhead.

She wondered if it was why she had been drawn in, herself.

"You seem to be making plenty of friends already," She said in response, turning a corner as they headed for the roof.

"What, those guys?" Kyouko said, thinking back to the classroom. "I don't know. They seem so...childish compared to you or Mami," She said, shrugging to herself. "Maybe I've just been around you two too often."

"You seemed to be having fun talking to them," Homura replied. She had intended to say it passively, but a little emotion slipped through.

The redhead caught it, and she smirked. "Jealous?"

Homura pursed her lips. "No."

"You are _so_ jealous."

"Do you not know what 'no' means?"

Kyouko laughed aloud and threw her arm around Homura's neck, yanking her close as she flashed her teeth. "Geez, don't worry. I'm not going anywhere."

"Kyouko!" Homura hissed, flushing badly. The redhead was drawing even more stares now, and some of the girls were snickering to each other. This was going to be a rampant rumor by the end of break.

After a few more moments of teasing she was willingly released, and Homura rubbed at her neck in a disgruntled manner. "So, how was your first lecture?" She asked, though she made sure to leave plenty of residual anger in her voice.

"Alright, I guess," Kyouko surmised, working her jaw as she remembered. "I expected not to understand anything, but surprisingly I kind of get it. She mentioned a few things I hadn't heard of before, but the basic concepts weren't that difficult...I still think I'm going to need a little help, though."

Homura nodded. That was to be expected. Being a magical girl came with a few universal perks, and that included boosted cognitive ability. In terms of raw potential, Kyouko was at a higher level than the other students already. She just had to study in order to reap that potential.

"In any case, try to keep the intimacy to a minimum at school," She said. They reached the stairwell and began the ascent, heels clicking against the polished concrete. "Remember that you're supposed to be my cousin. Not to mention that we're both girls; not everyone is accepting of that."

Kyouko frowned at the thought, shaking her head. "Sometimes I forget about that because I don't really interact with, well, _normal_ people. It's hard to remember that some people aren't okay with that."

"Just try to keep it in mind," Homura replied, as they reached the top of the stairwell. She fished out the key to the rooftop from her pocket. "And if you ever end up making real friends here, it's up to you whether to tell them or not."

The redhead just shrugged. "You're more than enough for me," She said casually, but Homura paused before turning the lock. She didn't know how Kyouko could say things like that so offhandedly. Blinking once, she pushed the door open.

It was still strikingly chilly outside, but Homura preferred to eat beneath the sun than the florescent lighting of the school building. A slow wind blew across the rooftop, reminding them of the temperature but not insisting upon it, and Homura rubbed gingerly at her hands as they strode in through the door. Small rows of benches lined the soft orange bricks the lined the ground, and a thin fence of wire mesh surrounded them. The school had actually neglected to have a fence around the roof until a number of years ago, a mistake that had resulted in a series of, well, _accidents_. The administration had quickly moved to install barricades afterwards, but the roof already had a nasty reputation amongst the students. No one really came up here anymore.

Homura thought it was perfect.

Of course, the two of them weren't perfectly alone up here. Blinking at the far end of the roof, she saw a familiar blonde head sitting on a bench facing away from them, staring in a contemplating manner over the city below them.

"Oh, hello," Mami said as the two of them approached her, offering an amiable smile. Homura just nodded back; she didn't really mind having Mami here, but she hadn't known that anyone else had access to the roof. It tainted the privacy she had associated with this place, if just a fraction.

"I didn't know the two of you ate lunch together," Kyouko grinned as she took her seat by the blonde. Homura took the leftmost side of the bench, digging around for their lunch.

"We don't," The shield user debunked, producing two cartons of food. She handed one to Kyouko, who cheered briefly before digging in. "I thought there was only one copy of the roof key?"

Mami smiled smugly back and held her hand out, a silver key dangling from the tip of her finger. Its teeth seemed to grin at her. "I have my ways."

Homura just frowned back at her, and the veins behind her eyes began to throb for some reason. Blinking once, she reached up to massage at her temples.

"So how is school going, Kyouko?" Mami asked, and Homura's ears twitched. The blonde sounded...oddly excited.

"Fine, I guess," The redhead replied, stabbing at her lunch with a fork. "I'm not gonna get through it by myself, but I don't think it's impossible. Besides, I've got all this time on my hands, so I might as well educate myself..."

Mami's eyes widened, and she clapped her hands together. "That isn't something I would have expected you to say," She said, sounding genuinely surprised. For some reason, that irked Kyouko more than a sarcastic tone would have.

The redhead just snorted and returned to eating. "I guess Homura's rubbing off on me."

"It's about time," The shield user muttered, reaching out to pinch Kyouko's cheek in a death grip.

"Ow!" Kyouko laughed, momentarily forgetting her meal as she engaged in a light battle with Homura. Mami's gaze seemed to linger on the spot where their hands met each other, but Homura didn't know what to think of it. "I think you've gotten a little brazen, yourself. Are you sure _I'm_ not rubbing off on _you_?"

"None sense," Homura grumbled back, pushing Kyouko away from her. She didn't like the look on Mami's face. "Besides, you can't live your entire life in ignorance. Sometimes knowing things makes things a bit more interesting."

It was true though, she thought, as Mami decided to engage Kyouko in a seemingly pointless conversation about study habits. She had changed, little by little, and now after all this time she could discern a definite difference in herself. The idea of having lunch with other girls, other _magical_ girls, would have been atrocious to her before. And while she didn't feel a burning desire to socialize even now, this wasn't so bad. She could work with this.

And it had all started at an abandoned construction site, with the two of them at each other's throats.

"Well, if you ever need any help with school work, I could assist you," Mami offered, looking eager.

Kyouko shrugged as she finished her lunch. "Sure, but don't worry about it. Homura's probably going to drill me until I die."

"Oh," The blonde echoed. "That's good."

Homura eyed her. Speaking of eyes, hers were still throbbing. She wondered what she had done to get them like that.

"By the way, Kyouko," Mami continued, "If you aren't busy this weekend-"

"Hey, are you alright?" The redhead said, cutting Mami off and leaning towards Homura, who seemed to be suffering from a massive headache. The time traveler was clutching gently at the front of her head, squinting at the orange bricks below them. Kyouko reached out and touched the girl's forehead, and Homura seemed to relax slightly at her touch, an observation that made Mami's chest throb.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine," Homura said, waving the girl off. "Just a headache. Behind my eyes. I don't know."

"Geez," Kyouko muttered, backing off at last. "Don't just pop a migraine on me like that."

"You don't have to be so protective," Homura scoffed, pulling out a small canister of Advil from her case and popping one. She surprised Kyouko by dry swallowing. The redhead wondered where Homura could have become so used to swallowing pills, and then she remembered the heart condition. "I'm not made out of glass."

Mami, who had been completely forgotten in the riffs of the conversation between the young couple, simply watched them until the bell rang, and they were prompted to return to class.

The blonde gathered her things and excused herself early, and Homura watched her senior disappear through the door. Something was off about her. But she didn't feel like analyzing it right now; her eyes were still killing her. Gritting her teeth, she stood up, rubbing at her temples again.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the pain disappeared. Blinking, Homura swiveled her eyeballs around at varying angles, testing her nerves. When there were no negative repercussions, she simply sighed and followed Kyouko off the roof, still blinking experimentally.

In spite of her personal diagnosis, it hadn't felt like an ordinary headache.

* * *

><p>Most of the winter's snow had melted into the storm drains by now, but the handle on Mami's front door was still cold to the touch.<p>

The small ring of thickly leaved trees in front of the first floor were all dead now, their bare gray branches rising out of the earth like icy crowns, bestowing winter status over the land. Mami remembered a time when they had been in full bloom, and the frozen crowns had been bouquets of cherry blossoms instead. That had been almost a year ago now, in a simpler time.

Shivering, the blonde withdrew her hand, breathing warm air into her palm before grabbing the knob again. She twisted the key and entered her apartment, expecting to be greeted with the usual drab, empty scenery of her kitchen. It was a view she had become used to seeing, no matter how much it hurt her.

She was surprised, then, to be hit by the smell of pasta.

"Oh, hey!" Kiku said brightly from the kitchen, momentarily distracted from the pot of boiling water she had going on the stove. Mami just stared as the brunette turned the oil-fueled flame down to a low burn and ran over to greet her, oversized apron fluttering in her wake.

_So much energy._

"Hey," Mami greeted, unwinding her scarf from around her neck. She had intended to put it away herself, but Kiku preempted her by grabbing it and heading for the rack.

"How was your first day back?" Kiku called over her shoulder, replacing the scarf on its respective peg. Mami stared at the pot of pasta on the stove again, taking a moment to answer. She wasn't used to not knowing why her house smelled like food.

"It was a little disorienting," She said at last, dropping her things on the couch. Her stomach rumbled a bit in response to the aroma curling through the apartment, and she realized that she had neglected her lunch that afternoon. "Being away from school for a number of months is tough, but I'll catch up eventually...the hardest part was explaining my absence to the teachers."

Kiku had returned to the stove by now, and hummed thoughtfully as she stirred at the pasta. "Well, I'm sure you figured something out."

"I did," Mami agreed, looking up from the couch to gaze at her friend. She had always known that Kiku was the superior one when it came to home economics, but she had never had the chance to see it in action. "I'm more worried about Kyouko, actually. A couple months is nothing compared to an entire childhood away from school."

"Well, she has Homura to help her, right?" Kiku said from the stove, looking through the cabinet for some more ingredients.

Mami watched her for a while before looking away. "Yeah, she does."

The brunette caught Mami's tone but said nothing, lowering the flame again. "Got anything planned this weekend?"

"Not really." The blonde gazed out the window, then picked herself out of the couch. She didn't really like sitting around. Walking over to the kitchen, she settled for watching Kiku cook. The girl really was good at it. "I was going to ask Kyouko to a cafe, but she's probably busy."

"Challenging the young couple already?" Kiku said, a small lilt to her voice. Deciding that the pasta was done, she turned off the stove and fished out two bowls, dividing the tubes of wheat evenly.

"What do you mean?" Mami said, coming off more irked than she had intended. She joined Kiku at the counter and helped her with the sauce, shaking the dispenser a little too vigorously. She ended up giving herself a lifetime's helping of tomato sauce.

Kiku only chuckled as Mami stared in disgust at the excess of red on her pasta, picking up her own helping and heading to the coffee table. "I don't know, Mami. Don't you think you should give the two of them some time to themselves? The first month or so of a new relationship is always the clingiest. No matter how stoic Homura is, they're going to want to be around each other all the time."

"How would you know?" Mami said glumly, settling for scooping most of the excess sauce to the edge of her bowl. She retrieved the milk from the fridge and joined her friend at the table, handing her an empty glass.

Kiku smiled at her with her eyes. "Relationships are the only subject where my test scores would be higher than yours," She teased, but the blonde just frowned back at her. "Besides, we've all been fighting demons for months, and they never had any time for things like love before that. Now they finally have their chance. Can you really blame them for taking advantage?"

Mami paused at the girl's use of words. _Love._ Did Kyouko love Homura? She didn't really know. The truth was, she didn't know the redhead as well as she used to. She might have been able to guess the secrets of Kyouko's heart a long time ago, but the girl was different now. She was still the same brazen, unapologetic spear wielder she had always been, but she was changed. She seemed _happier_. The dark cloud her past had set over her seemed to have lifted, and the only conclusion Mami could draw was that Homura had somehow facilitated that change.

Homura, not her.

"What about me, then?" Mami countered, stabbing at the pasta and taking a small bite. She closed her eyes; it was really good. But it didn't distract her from her thoughts. "It's been ages since I last spent any quality time with her. And I've known Kyouko longer. Doesn't that mean anything?"

Kiku seemed to contemplate on that for a while, chewing quietly on her pasta. Mami gazed at her, expecting some sort of snappy reply, but none were forthcoming. Closing her eyes, she was about to return to her own bowl when the brunette spoke up.

"Of course it means something," She said, swiping at her tomato sauce. "But you also have to realize that the two of them are in a relationship now, and that changes things completely. I don't know either of them well enough to say how long they'll last, but at least for a while, things are going to be this way. Can't you just be happy for them?"

It wasn't said like a challenge; and honestly, Mami wasn't offended. She knew that Kiku was just trying to give her the best advice she could manage. But that didn't mean she was satisfied with it. She had been looking forward to reconnecting with Kyouko after everything that had happened. They had so much to catch up on. And while she had promised herself to be fair to Homura, she couldn't help feeling a smidgen of spite. Homura had earned Mami's respect, but that didn't mean she wasn't subject to any of the blonde's jealousy.

"Besides, I think you have more important things to think about," Kiku continued, gathering her bowl and utensils. "It's the second semester of your third year. What are you going to do once you graduate?"

Mami stared at Kiku's retreating back, the gears in her her mind spinning. The girl was right; she had yet to put ample thought into the advent of her future. She wouldn't be going to university, that much was for sure; while her grades had been strong, they had taken a massive blow during her absence, and she obviously lacked the time to pursue extracurriculars. So it was work, then. But what kind of work? She doubted she qualified to work at any companies in the city, and she had no intention of moving. She couldn't rely on the fund her parents had left behind forever, and even if she could her sense of independence wouldn't allow it. Once she was out of school, she would have to take the world on herself.

Well, maybe not just herself.

"Look, I'm not trying to stress you out or anything," Kiku conceded, leaving the dishes in the sink and walking back over. "I know you've got a lot of things on your mind. But I know you, Mami. Sometimes you can get distracted from what's really important. And, well...sometimes you can't see what's right in front of you."

The blonde looked at her, wondering what she meant by that. Kiku stared back for a moment before turning away with a small smile.

"Maybe I'll open a restaurant," She said, with a touch of sarcasm. It wasn't like her, but she didn't know what else to say.

"Why not?" Kiku asked aloud, turning on the faucet. The sound of running water caressed their ears. "You can make tea, and I'll cook. We'll be rich in no time."

Mami laughed, reaching up to undo her ringlets. It was only four in the afternoon, but it was already a long day. "Kyouko would probably be our number one customer."

Kiku snorted. "As long as she pays, I'm totally fine with that."

The blonde abruptly stopped laughing then, and stared at the back of Kiku's head. "Would you really do something that crazy?" She asked.

The brunette didn't respond immediately, silently washing the dishes for several moments. The sun began to set as she did, and Kiku turned off the faucet just as the last ray of orange left the apartment. Replacing the dishes, she turned and smiled at Mami through the newfound darkness, her teeth flashing.

"As long as we get to do it together, I don't care how crazy it is."

This was nice, Mami thought, as she got up to make some tea so that the two of them could talk the rest of the night away, and watch the city illuminate itself down below. It really was nice. Having Kiku around, coming home to a bowl of pasta; it was all very nice. Mami knew that, but she also knew that she took it all for granted, at least a little. Right now, things were getting better. Her friends were all safe, and though Kyouko seemed to be drifting further away from her, she at least had Kiku by her side.

The only question, then, was whether she could be content with just that.

* * *

><p>"I don't understand this at all," Kyouko declared, tossing her pencil on the table and raising her hands in surrender.<p>

Homura sighed as they got stuck on yet another question, a particularly difficult mathematical equation that even she had had some trouble with. Homura had become quite used to finishing her homework at lightning speed so that she would have time to hunt demons, and that meant she had enough free time to help Kyouko with hers. And truth be told, it wasn't as bad as expected. The redhead was able to complete all of the easy problems and most of the intermediate ones, but she wasn't used to dealing with a roadblock problem like this one.

Luckily Kyouko was stubborn, so she would come to understand the concept through sheer repetition alone, given some prompting.

"Look," Homura said, pointing at the workbook. "The problem gives you units in degrees, but you have to convert them to radians first. Otherwise the trigonometry won't work. Kyouko, are you paying attention?"

"Yeah," The redhead said, waving her hand about from the floor. They were both sitting with their legs underneath a low table in Homura's room, and Kyouko was sprawled out over the carpet. "Trigonometry. Witchcraft. Et cetera."

"Didn't you pay attention during the lecture? I saw you taking notes."

"It would've been easier to understand if that lady didn't keep going off tangent about toilet paper," Kyouko griped.

_True._

"You've only got this one problem left," Homura said, ushering the redhead to sit back up. "Don't you want some free time before going to bed?"

"And what exactly do you expect me to do with this 'free time'?" Kyouko asked, hauling herself back up and snatching the pencil before it rolled off the edge of the table.

A few things came to mind, but Homura dismissed them. "Whatever you want," She said, as a way to avoid giving a specific answer.

Kyouko blinked at her, then quietly converted degrees into radians, scribbling for a a minute or two before lifting her head back up. "Oh, what do you know. I got it."

"Congratulations," Homura said, with only a tad of sarcasm. The redhead was actually a lot more intelligent than she made herself out to be; the girl just didn't try, that was all. That was where she came in, though Homura hoped that one day Kyouko would handle these things on her own, of her own volition.

"So...'whatever I want,_' _right?" The shield user said, setting her pencil down slowly and eyeing her.

Homura blinked. "Um...yes. I did promise. Just make sure you don't break anything expensive," She added, as a forethought.

Kyouko leaned forward on her hands, grinning wolfishly. "That's going to be a little difficult, Homura."

"And why's that?" She asked, going cross eyed as she attempted to keep her eyes on Kyouko's. The redhead was rapidly closing the distance between them, and she leaned away in order to compensate, stretching her back.

"Because," Kyouko said, before lunging forward and pinning Homura to the carpet, "I think you're priceless."

_Oh, damn. That was a good line,_ Homura thought inwardly, but she shook herself. "Get off me, Kyouko," She said crossly, flexing her wrists, but the redhead had a firm grip on them. She gasped when Kyouko made herself comfortable on top of her instead, brushing their legs together.

"No," The older girl said bluntly, before leaning down and kissing her.

Homura made a small noise in the back of her throat, and she felt herself being swamped again as Kyouko continued having her way with her, trapping the shield user with her weight. The kiss was short lived, however, as Kyouko broke it and lowered her head below Homura's chin.

"Kyou-" She started, but she yelped instead when the redhead nipped her gently on the neck, pinching a small portion of skin between her teeth. "Wai-" But she was ignored again in favor of another nip, harder this time, and Homura's words came out gargled and incoherent. "Kyouko...wait...I said _wait!_"

The redhead grunted in surprise when Homura struggled free and grabbed her by the shoulders, shoving forward until there was a foot or two of space between them. Kyouko's eyes were slightly glazed over, and it took her a moment to realize what was going on, her crimson irises focusing on Homura's knitted brows.

"Homura...?" She said, seeming genuinely confused.

"You," The shield user said, still panting between breaths, "need to calm down."

Kyouko just stared down at her, still a little disoriented from the heat of a moment now past. "I don't get it."

Homura could only sigh, closing her eyes and inhaling deeply. It wouldn't do to get angry about this. That would only lead to an argument, and they might not make up so easily afterwards.

"I don't feel comfortable when you go that far," She said, deciding she might as well spell it out. "Or at least, not yet. Maybe after a while, I'll be mentally ready for it. But right now...can we just take things a little slower? Please?"

Kyouko's eyes went wide as comprehension dawned at last, and she scrambled away from the time traveler, scooting herself back to where she had been sitting. "Oh, God, Homura, I'm sorry-"

"It's okay," She interrupted. "I'm not angry or anything. Let's just slow down a little, alright?"

The redhead nodded vigorously, and silence settled over them.

_Well, this is awkward,_ Homura thought, as the two of them sat in complete and utter silence. She considered telling Kyouko to get back to work, but remembered that she was finished with all of it. She supposed it would be expecting too much for them to return to simple conversation, after what she had just said. She didn't regret doing it, but what could either of them say now? She could already sense Kyouko stealing glances at her, and knew that this was going to be a problem.

"I'm going to go have some water," Homura said at last, before getting up and leaving the room.

Later than night, Kyouko didn't wrestle with her in the bed like she usually did, and the transition from consciousness to slumber was surprisingly easy. The actual absence of a disturbance was kind of strange, really, but Homura convinced herself that this was for the best. One had to take things kinds of things slowly; she knew that much.

She just wished that Kyouko would act a little less hurt about it.

Closing her eyes, she let sleep take her, rubbing languidly at her temples.

Her eyes still hurt.

* * *

><p><strong>I have a "plot" of sorts in mind now, but I'm still open to ideas. I'm also trying to figure out how to keep these characters from losing their edge, as many slice of life fics often end up doing. Tell me what you guys think, and as always, thanks for reading.<strong>

**~Banshee**


	24. Relevance

Chapter 24: Relevance

When Homura rolled over the next morning to shake Kyouko awake, the redhead's eyes cracked open in an almost accusatory manner.

"You woke me up again," The redhead muttered, as if this were a regrettable fact.

Homura blinked back at her. "Well...yes, I did."

Kyouko grunted, and rolled out of the bed. Her eyes twitched when Homura followed her into the bathroom and reminded her that the purple toothbrush wasn't hers. She brushed her teeth almost furiously before spitting and rinsing her mouth out. Homura watched her go as she left the bathroom, stalking out like a wild animal.

A day later, Kyouko stared at the bowl of oatmeal that Homura placed in front of her for lunch.

"Is there something wrong with it?" Homura asked, slightly irritated. She crossed her arms, awaiting a response. She wasn't a stranger to the redhead's scorn, but not knowing its cause was not very tolerable. Kyouko blinked at the bowl once more before shaking her head.

"Nothing," She said, shoving a spoonful into her mouth.

She didn't finish it all.

What followed was three days worth of receiving the cold shoulder from Kyouko, which Homura dutifully attempted to wait out. This had happened before, after all. The redhead would come around eventually, realizing that whatever she was so irked about was actually quite trivial, and they would be on good terms again. But something else told Homura this would not be the case. There was something different about this cold spell. It felt...well, more genuine. Like they were actually at odds over something significant this time. It was a real fight, through and through.

Of course, she tried hypothesizing. She wasn't about to sit around and wait until Kyouko decided to explain things to her. Homura's first thought was that it had something to do with her wanting to take it slow, but at the same time she doubted it. The redhead had been so agreeable about it at first, and she wasn't _that_ petty. Kyouko was more mature than that. But what, then? It seemed that whenever Homura reached out for her, whether it be to assist her on a homework problem, hand her a bowl, or point something out, Kyouko recoiled. Not from her, specifically, but from her actions, if that made any sense.

Eventually, she stopped trying to rectify the situation.

If Kyouko wanted to be like that, two could play at this game.

The weekend rolled around soon after, and Homura found herself alone in a house with nothing to do. Kyouko had run off to see the twins yet again. It was almost as if she were sharing custody of those children with Mishki, the way she ran over there so often. Homura hadn't minded it all at first, but now it poked at her. She imagined the redhead laughing over something foolish with Mishki over a cup of tea, saying something derogatory towards her. The thought didn't really please her.

Sighing, she finished the rest of her coffee.

* * *

><p>"You said those two were already contracted?" Kyouko asked, drawing her knees up and placing her socked feet on the edge of her chair. Mishki came into the main room through the kitchen, holding two slowly steaming cups in her hands. She placed them on the table and took her seat opposite the redhead.<p>

"They are," The guide said, taking a sip. The twins were running around on the other side of the room, chattering something indiscernable to each other. Kyouko could never really figure out how the two of them communicated, but they seemed to understand each other just fine.

"They don't seem to have any powers," Kyouko commented, taking a draw from her own brew. She closed her eyes; after hanging around both Homura and Mami, the wonders of tea were starting to grow on her. "I mean, I've never really seen them use magic."

Mishki just shrugged. "Not a question I can answer," She said, watching the kids carefully through the corner of her eye. Though Kyouko considered the diminutive girl to be a practical and somewhat calculating person, she detected a sort of caring aura from her when it came to the twins. She might even go so far as to call it motherly, but she was still struggling with the fact that Mishki had three years on her. Baby steps, baby steps.

"I asked Seiyaku about it a while back, and she said she didn't know either," Mishki continued. "You can easily tell that they've been contracted just by looking at them, but they've never exhibited any magical aptitude, or demonstrated any abilities. In truth, they can pass as totally normal kids to anyone else."

Kyouko glanced at the twins, watching them wrestle playfully with each other. "Don't you think that's a little..." She searched for a eloquent placeholder but failed. "Weird?"

Mishki shrugged again, though she smiled this time. "It could be just as well," She said. "Lord knows how hard it is to live with the weight of a responsibility like magic. Maybe they're too young and innocent to understand what they are; maybe it's some crazy anomaly. Either way, they deserve their youth. That's something that even you and I haven't missed out on."

The redhead hummed, blandly expressing her agreement. Magic was a beautiful, terrible construct. In some ways it had shaped her; in others, it had broken her. Kyouko wasn't entirely sure if she would reverse her decision to make a contract if she could, but she knew that her experiences had aged her. Her mind was nothing like that of other seventeen year olds, and it attested to the fact that she looked at her classmates as little more than overgrown children. She supposed that was why she could only stand to be around people like Homura, who seemed to be one of a select few who consistently understood her.

In a world where it was so easy to lose everything, she had a habit of clinging to the good things.

"So, why are you really here?" Mishki asked suddenly, tugging absentmindedly at her tea bag. The sky outside was a balmy blue-gray, as if someone had injected quicksilver into the clouds. Shadows dappled in through the windows, checkering Kyouko's face as she blinked, startled out of her brief reverie.

"I'm here to see the twins, of course," She responded at last, swirling her own tea around in the cup. Her reflection stared blankly back at her. "And you make for good conversation."

Mishki smiled wanly at her, and Kyouko knew her attempt at flattery had gone nowhere. "While I appreciate the thought, a young woman like you has better things to be doing that entertaining some lone wolf and her kids. I doubt you woke up this morning planning to come here."

Kyouko blinked and glanced uncomfortably at the table, drawing out a random pattern across the tablecloth. Roses and daises, locking in a graceful dance of fire and lightning. Her own roselike irises followed the designs for a while before closing. "So what if I didn't?"

Mishki simply tilted her head, her tangled mane of hair shifting over her shrewd, catlike eyes.

"Something going on with Homura?"

Kyouko frowned.

"No."

Mishki exhaled loudly and leaning back in her chair. "Are you two fighting?"

"No," Kyouko said again, a little more crossly this time. "Not really," She added, letting her tone swell back down. It made no sense to lie to someone who already knew the truth. "It's just a little awkward between us right now. But it's mostly my fault."

The guide let out a brief _hmmm_ and folded her arms behind her head, leaning further back in her chair. The wood creaked gently beneath her weight, remind her of its presence. "What happened? Not that you have to tell me, of course. Though I am all ears."

Kyouko eyed the older woman for a long moment, still fingering at her tea, which had long since cooled into a brooding lukewarm temperature. She considered blowing the entire conversation off and moving on to something a tad more frivolous, but something told her that Mishki wouldn't allow it. The girl was much too shrewd to do so. Besides, she thought, she had no one else to seek advice from. Mami certainly had no expertise on the matter, and she didn't trust Kiku enough. It was either this or a solo expedition.

Sighing, she downed the rest of her cup in own swig before speaking.

"I pushed a little too hard. Homura wants to take it slow."

Thankfully, Mishki didn't laugh at her, though she did smile. It was tinged with sympathy, however, and Kyouko appreciated the fact that she seemed to be taken seriously. "Yeah, Homura doesn't seem like someone who would warm up to physical intimacy too quickly. Did she take it badly?"

"Not at all," Kyouko said, turning to stare out the window they were seated beside. The sun slipped through the clouds for a fraction, blinding her. Squinting away the disturbance, she looked away from the glass. "She was very reasonable about it, like she always is. That she wanted to take things slow, and not rush it. I understand. I was probably taking things a little too quickly," She muttered, reaching up to sip at her tea before remembering she had none left.

Mishki observed the small mistake but didn't offer any refills. "You don't seem to be totally alright with it," She said, rubbing at the rim of her own china. "Are you that interested in the physical side of your relationship?"

The redhead snorted. "I would be lying if I said it didn't matter," She said, resting her chin on her hands. "But that's not all of it. I don't know. It's just, well...she's always in _control_, you know? She helps me get through my lectures. She makes the meals. She took care of all the legal shit I was facing before getting into the school. She's more of an alarm to me than the actual one we use, and, well, I just feel like her kid sometimes."

Mishki watched her as she spoke, seeming to absorb her words. She didn't respond when Kyouko paused, and she took this as her cue to continue. She gathered her thoughts first, staring at a small band of light that was poking through the shades and illuminating a small square on her finger. She moved the digit in and out of the sunlight, watching how the color and texture of the skin seemed to change. It really was hard to recognize the difference.

"When we do those things, you know, those intimate things..." Kyouko paused again, wondering how candid she was going to be with this. "That's the only time I really feel like the leader. I'm the one calling the shots. I'm in _control._ The rest of the time, I just feel so _useless_. And the worst part is, I think it might just be my problem. In fact, it probably is. Homura probably has no problem with doing all those things for me, but I do. And it bothers me."

She decided to stop speaking after that, waiting for Mishki to digest it all. The twins had become progressively quieter as the conversation continued, and they now hushed each other and retreated to the kitchen, seeming to understand that the adults were having a serious back and forth.

"Calling the shots, huh..." Mishki echoed, clasping her hands together on her lap. "I guess, in some respects, Homura is more the man in the relationship."

Kyouko stared at the bottom of her empty tea cup. "Can the woman not call any shots?" She asked.

The guide shook her head. "I never said that," She said, leaning forward in her chair again. "Despite my limited experience, I believe that a couple is meant to complete each other, somehow. And if you two really are a genuine match, you'll find some other way to contribute to what you end up building together. Physical closeness is important, Kyouko, but it isn't everything. You shouldn't make it your main selling point. She'll probably come around on that soon anyways; you don't become a magical girl and hang on to naiveté for very long."

Kyouko looked up from her cup. "And what do I do until then?"

Mishki reached out and patted the redhead on the hand.

"You wait. Poke, maybe prod a little, but you wait. Patience is the ultimate test of love."

* * *

><p>Homura didn't know what to make of their situation.<p>

There had been a tangible shift in her interactions with Kyouko ever since she asked as her not to rush things; it wasn't a hostile change, but like a subtle sidling to the side. The redhead greeted her as usual in the mornings, carried conversations, and was generally the peppy and sarcastic girl she always was, but there was something almost diluted about her, the way she now carried herself. It was like she was restraining herself, somehow.

_God dammit, Kyouko,_ Homura thought as she rang the doorbell to Mami's apartment. She had wanted to take the physical stuff slow, not everything else as well.

She had two brightly colored yukatas folded neatly into little squares, which Mami and Kiku had both left behind at her home and hadn't bothered to pick up since. She could imagine that the brunette would allow something like that to slip her mind, but she didn't think it was in Mami's nature to lose track of her own clothing. Maybe she had other things on her mind.

She shifted impatiently; no one was coming to the door, but she could hear muffled voices on the other side of the door. Reaching out, she was about to test the knob when the door was pulled open, and Mami Tomoe poked her head out the small crack she had allowed.

"Who at this hour-" Her eyes alighted on Homura. "Oh."

"Must you look so disappointed?" The time traveler sighed, her breath puffing out between them.

"It's your imagination," The blonde said smoothly, standing up straighter and letting the door hang open. "Did you need something?"

Homura found herself briefly distracted before answering; it was early in the morning, and she had noticed that Mami was still in her airy nightgown, meaning that she had presumably just crawled out of bed. It was a little revealing, and Homura didn't really know where to look.

"Brought your laundry back," She said, settling for looking Mami straight in the eye. She waved the articles of clothing slowly in the air. "It's been a week, and you haven't come around for it, so I'm doing you a favor."

"Much obliged," Mami answered. She paused, seeming to consider some kind of social courtesy, before letting go of the door and leaving it wide open. "Why don't you come in?" She called over her shoulder, shivering a bit through her thin garb when the cold was let it. Homura stared into the blonde's apartment for a moment, before shrugging shallowly and crossing the threshold.

Closing the door behind her, she lingered by the doormat for a while before inching slowly forward. The apartment was small but of good quality, and it was spacious enough to hold two people anyways. She had actually been inside this building a number of times before, but she had never felt truly comfortable here.

She wondered if it was the lingering scent of perfume.

"Here," Mami offered, handing Homura a steaming cup of tea. She accepted it graciously, thinking to herself that she was probably going to overdose on the stuff one day, considering how often she drank it. Homura closed her eyes as she let the brew seep through her, the heat warming her bones and thin fingers. She vaguely wondered if Mami always had a storage of tea at the ready for possible visitors. This cup alone had made it to her in less than a minute.

"Kiku's still asleep," The blonde continued apologetically, drawing up a chair. Homura glanced through a small crack in the door to the bedroom, and saw a brief swath of chocolate brain hair hanging off the edge of a mattress. Soft, relaxed snored wafted from beyond the walls. Judging from how at ease those snores sounded, Homura really could tell that the hardships of life had not worn as harshly on Kiku. Then again, she had been sleeping like that lately too.

Besides, it didn't mean the illusionist didn't have her own problems.

"Do you two share a bed?" She asked, taking her own seat across from the blonde. The question left her mouth before she could determine it appropriate, and she realized too late that Mami might be a bit off put. She bit her lip in mild anticipation, but Mami just snorted and shook her head.

"Oh heavens, no. It's bad for hygiene, you know. Having space when you sleep is important for you health."

"Of course," Homura inclined, sighing internally. She shouldn't have worried.

Mami nodded in agreement and took a sip from her own tea, turning to observe the skyline.

"So, how are things going with Kyouko?" She asked, almost hesitantly.

Homura eyed the blonde's face as she spoke. The question was asked almost as if it were taboo, as if Mami were attempting to obtain some sort of forbidden knowledge. Of course, Homura didn't feel terribly inclined to spill all her secrets to the older girl, but Mami didn't know about that. It gave Homura the impression that Mami was attempting to dig up roots from the top of a mountain, precariously risking her balance.

"Fine," She answered at last. "She's a pain to wake up in the mornings, but she's getting through school well enough, with a little help."

Mami nodded thoughtfully. "Good," She murmured.

_God this is awkward,_ Homura thought, staring at her reflection in the tea. The little leaves in the drink seemed to wave mockingly at her. Why had she accepted the invitation to come in? That had probably just been an offer made out of common courtesy; she didn't imagine that Mami had any particular desire to speak with her. The two of them were on agreeable terms now, but that was still a far cry from friendship, which was something Homura doubted she could achieve in the long run, if ever.

Clearing her throat, Homura said, "So how are things, with, uh...how's Kiku?"

"What?" Mami asked, apparently broken out of a reverie. "Oh. She's fine," The blonde said, almost dismissively. Homura blinked at the easy response. Mami had been so adamant about Kiku before. She wondered what had changed.

"How is she handling being, you know...dead to the world?" Homura pressed, having no other avenues of conversation to explore. She felt a little bad about discussing the brunette when she was asleep in the next room, but she had no other options.

"Dealing with a lot of boredom, if nothing else," Mami replied, chuckling softly. "She needs to use magic to hide her face whenever she goes out, so she prefers to stay inside instead, sometimes watching me to my homework. She does a lot to occupy herself, though; cooks, cleans occasionally, daydreams..."

_That sounds absolutely terrible, _Homura thought, but she didn't say so aloud. Challenging Mami's perception of things was often a dangerous and likely fruitless endeavor. Instead, she asked a question she already knew the answer to. "Won't she accumulate despair if she keeps disguising herself like that?"

"Seiyaku gave us a decade's supply of Grief Seeds, remember?" Mami said. "Small uses of magic like that are nothing."

Luckily Homura was saved from having to say any more, because Kiku had woken up.

Yawning, the illusionist stretched as she emerged from the bedroom. "Oh, hello, Homura," She slurred, reaching up to scratch absently at her head. She was wearing more casual sleeping clothes, loose shorts and a tank top, with her long mane of chocolate brown hair hanging in a tangled mess around herself. Just looking at those tight curls was giving Homura OCD. She was about to recommend the conditioner that she personally used when Mami interrupted her.

"Good morning," She said politely, as Kiku padded over to them on bare feet.

"Mornin'," The brunette drawled back, standing behind the blonde's chair. Leaning down, she looped her arms around Mami's neck from behind and rested her chin on the girl's golden locks. "Why are we up so early?"

"Homura came to return our clothes." Ever composed, Mami took another careful sip from her tea. Homura just stared; the blonde seemed to be completely unaffected by her proximity to Kiku, despite the fact that the brunette was practically embracing her. She refrained from commenting, however.

"Where's Kyouko?" The illusionist asked her, cracking one lazy eye open and staring at her. Homura blinked before setting her cup down.

"She's...visiting the twins again," Homura said, with a sour taste in her mouth.

"Cool," Kiku replied, blinking the last of the sleep away from her eyes. Her irises seemed to brighten abnormally quickly. "Listen, I've been meaning to stop by the market sometime this weekend, and I'm feeling productive right about now. Want to tag along?"

Homura frowned. "I..." Then she stopped, realizing that she couldn't formulate an honest excuse. She had already finished the homework that had been assigned over the weekend, seeing as she had had plenty of space to concentrate with Kyouko skirting around her all the time, and it wasn't like she had anything else planned. She supposed a more ordinary weekend would have consisted of her doing something for fun with the redhead, but that probably wasn't going to happen anytime soon. It wasn't as if she had been looking forward to bringing Mami's clothes back for her. She just needed something to occupy herself.

"Sure," She amended, and Kiku brightened. "I've got nothing else to do."

"Figured," The brunette laughed. She tapped Mami on the head. "You coming too?"

"I guess my work ethic doesn't surpass Homura's," the blonde sighed. "I've still got schoolwork. Sorry."

Kiku pouted. "You're no fun. At least I've got Homura to keep me company." She stuck her tongue out before retreating back towards her room. "I'll be ready in a bit," She sang, before disappearing behind the door.

There was a brief silence as Homura and Mami regarded each other, and Homura surprised even herself by speaking first.

"You know," She said, "You really are no fun."

Mami shuddered.

"Somehow, hearing that from you makes it hurt ten times more," She said.

Homura snorted.

* * *

><p>The sun was bright outside, but cold; its rays were only for show, and they brought no warmth to Homura's skin as she stepped outside the apartment once again, standing idly as Kiku turned to lock the door behind them. As she waited, she turned to peer at the spindly trees growing in the courtyard before the main building; the ashen branches were dripping with the remnants of a cold morning's dew, and they wept that way in silence, disregarded by all.<p>

She heard a resounding click behind her, and turned to find that Kiku was ready to go. The brunette closed her eyes and took a brief breath. A moment later, a familiar obscuring cloud passed over her face; when it had cleared, her face was different.

Well...not so different. The head on Kiku's shoulders still had brown hair, but it was of a slightly darker hue, and the long locks came down a little straighter than her traditional thick curls. Her big round eyes had become a little narrower, though they still sparkled with a recognizable energy. She looked like a distant cousin to herself, in a way, but in passing she could have been a completely separate person.

"Not the Saki face?" Homura asked passively, drawing her coat around her.

Kiku smiled and shook her head. "It was just for a short while, but people have seen me with that disguise," She said. "And I'm trying to leave the 'Saki' chapter of my life behind...for more than one reason, a new face was necessary."

The time traveler scrutinized her new appearance for a little longer, making the girl shift uncomfortably under that unwavering gaze. "You didn't venture very far."

"I don't want to be completely unrecognizable to the rest of you," Kiku responded, huffing and taking the lead. Her boots clacked down the stairs. "Besides, I don't want to be someone who goes by two different faces. Mami is still trying to get used to my first one."

Homura pursed her lips and followed, wondering how this particular venture would pan out.

They walked slowly in the direction of the convenience store, exchanging idle chitchat as they went. They didn't discuss anything of actual importance, and for that Homura was somewhat glad; she had been slightly afraid that this run to the market was really just a guise for some sort of heavy back and forth, which she didn't feel up to at the moment. She could barely sort her own thoughts; how could she be expected to relay them?

They reached the store, and for a while Kiku actually seemed to be buying things for a meal; Homura quietly helped her, picking out the fruits and vegetables the brunette asked her to fetch, and bringing them back to her. She ended up saving the illusionist a considerable sum in savings as well, once she discovered that Kiku was buying things without paying attention to the prices.

"Buy these radishes in bulk," Homura instructed, pointing at a nearby pile of the stuff. "It's half off. Expensive now, but you won't be back for a while."

"Oh," Kiku said, blinking. She dutifully began to load a bag full of radishes. "You sure know how to get around financially, huh?"

Homura dropped her arm. It was chilly in the vegetable section, but not nearly as cold as it was outside. "I'm used to it," She responded. "And ever since Kyouko started living with me, I've had to become even better at managing finances. Particularly those regarding food."

The brunette laughed as she tied off her bag of radishes, the plastic stretching to contain the vegetables. She added it to the cart and forged on. "I guess you've had to learn to fend for yourself," She said, stopping to browse over an assortment of cheeses. "I've been pampered in comparison until recently, so I'm still getting used to this whole 'living without parents' thing. It's still a little weird to wake up every morning in a different apartment." Abandoning the cheese, she reached over and selected a bright orange fruit from the pile.

"Persimmons?" Homura asked, slightly puzzled.

"Mami likes them," Kiku said simply, leading them deeper into the store.

Homura followed, thinking about Kiku's statement about being pampered. She vaguely remembered something about the girl's parents being less than agreeable, though she wasn't clear enough on the details to make a proper judgement. Still, she supposed having incompetent parents was better than no parents at all.

They finished the rest of the market run without incident, and before Homura knew it they were checking out at the counter. As she stared at the back of Kiku's head, she reflected that the past hour or so had been surprisingly devoid of hostility. She blinked at Kiku; the brunette was still chuckling to herself over something Homura had said, though she didn't remember trying to be funny.

It wasn't that she had anything against the illusionist. Kiku had certainly done questionable things in the past, but Homura didn't blame her for it. She had done as much and worse, herself. She understood that desperation drove you beyond the highest mountains. Yet they still hardly knew each other, brought together only by their mutual friends, and Homura knew she had a weird tendency to assume that people she didn't know well simply didn't like her.

It was one of her less desirable traits, one that Kyouko was always willing to remind her of. The thought of the redhead irked her, almost out of nowhere.

A wave of cool air arrived to greet them as they exited the store, and Kiku turned her neck around to say something.

"So, how's it going with Kyouko?" She asked.

Homura narrowed her eyes. "Why does everyone keep asking that?"

Kiku blinked. "Why, are you two fighting?"

The time traveler paused for a long while, before muttered, "Why does everyone keep asking_ that_?"

The brunette simply frowned at her, as they walked back in the general direction they had come from. Their hands hung with a few plastic bags each, and their rustling grated on Homura's ears. "So...you two _are_ fighting?"

Homura sighed, wishing she could strike up a conversation with the radishes instead. They would almost certainly be less pressing than a certain brunette.

"Yeah," She said. "I guess. I don't know. Are there qualifications before I can call it one?"

Kiku shrugged. "A fight's a fight," She said, hefting the groceries. Then she turned and flashes Homura winning smile. "But if you are in need of any relationship related advise, I'm always ready to help. Love guru Kiku, at your service!"

Homura snorted. The girl's overwhelming sense of expressive energy would never cease to amaze her. "Yes, I remember the legends that were passed around school. The mythical third year from Class B who could get a date with anyone."

Kiku blushed modestly and flapped one free hand between them. "Oh, please don't that up again," She protested. "Besides, I was never really interested in any of those boys. They were the ones who approached me, after all. And I'm usually too nice to refuse. I have different priorities now."

"Like Mami-san?" Homura asked, almost jokingly. She had only meant it as a passing comment, but Kiku stopped in her tracks, her eyes fixed on something invisible in the distance. Homura slowed to a stop and waited, wondering if the brunette was going to take offense, and if she had ruined the possibility of yet another friendship with her overbearing attitude.

"Hey, Homura," Kiku said finally, her breath drifting before her nose. The time traveler eyed her. "How about we drop these groceries off and take a walk?"

She said it almost tentatively, as if she were asking for something unobtainable. Homura looked into her now slanted eyes and saw no hostility there, only empathy, and maybe a little self pity.

The first cloud of the day appeared overhead, briefly enveloping the sun.

"If you insist," Homura said. Kiku nodded, and they both headed towards the apartment in silence.

* * *

><p>Kyouko kicked idly at a can as she made her way down the sidewalk, her mind brooding on heavy things.<p>

While visiting Mishki had proven worth her while, she had only managed to convince herself to stay there for so long. She went over there often enough already, and she didn't want to impose on the guide when she was still settling in. Besides, people could only tolerate someone else's problems for a little while. Eventually they got sick of hearing it, and kicked you out. Even the best of them. Even Mishki.

The can went spinning and struck the corner of a nearby building, earning her a few stares from the few passerby. She glared back until they looked away. Huffing, the redhead looked up and happened to lay her eyes on Mami's apartment, which rose above the structures around it like a little beacon.

Maybe she would pay the blonde a visit.

It was about time they caught up, after all.

She heard mumbling speaking on the other side of the door when she rang the bell, and though she detected the sound of Mami walking around inside. Kyouko shook her head in exasperation; even after all this time, the blonde still had trouble answering doors promptly.

The handle twisted a moment later, and Mami stuck her head out the door.

"Kiku? Was it you who sent up the gro-Kyouko!"

"Rococo?" Kyouko asked, puzzled.

"What? Oh, no! Not rococo. I meant Kyouko!" The blonde laughed, suddenly seeming rather flustered. "I'm getting you mixed up in my history lessons, sorry."

The redhead sighed and shook her head, but she laughed at the same time. "You're always a lot more absent minded than you seem, Mami."

"Well, sorry," The older girl scoffed, blowing a strand strand of golden hair out of her eyes. "Are you just here to visit?" She asked, sounding strangely hopeful.

Kyouko shrugged. The trees behind her were devoid of dew by now. "I guess I am," She said. "I've got nothing to do, so I figured I would pay you a visit. Maybe we could hang out, or something."

Mami's eyes went wide. "Oh, fantastic!" She cheered, clapping her hands together. "In that case, let's go take a walk. I'll be ready in five minutes!" And with that she disappeared from the door, leaving it wide open as she all but sprinted into her room, her feet a blur against the carpet.

"Don't you have homework?" Kyouko shouted after her, looking down the hall at the small pile of notebooks and worksheets heaped upon the coffee table.

"I can finish it tomorrow!"

_First time I've ever heard her say that._

* * *

><p>Kiku seemed to be wandering aimlessly at first, but it soon became apparent that she had a real destination in mind, and Homura settled for allowing the brunette to lead them where she wished.<p>

They had left the groceries in the small chute on the first floor, and used an array of buttons to send it all up to Mami's floor. The blonde might be a little confused to have a heap of bagged food suddenly appear in her kitchen chute, but hopefully she would be able to deduce where they had originated from. Kiku didn't seem very inclined to stick around long enough to check, anyway, as she waltzed out of the complex as soon as the buttons had been pressed.

They moved away from the denser parts of the city, towards the most recreative side of the borough. Here a great number of Mitakihara's parks resided, where great tracts of land had been set aside for the specific purpose of nature preservation. The city's council seemed to understand that living day by day within a metropolitan atmosphere could be dragging sometimes, so they had worked hard to make sure this area remained untouched by the hand of human progress.

It would later occur to Homura that the lake was here, deep within the sparse forests of the park.

This was where Kiku led them, taking them to the border of the woods and following a trail until they were deep within the swaths of trees, though they did not deviate from the beaten path. Homura could see small knots of people roaming the park at varying distances, mostly small families taking their children out for a short stroll. The trees surrounding were neither thick nor particularly tall, but it was still the greatest singular density of plant life Homura had ever seen in Mitakihara. She had walked through this park many times before on hunts, and here she had always felt truly _isolated_; the leaves were thick enough to block out the distant sounds of traffic, and the smell of crushed pinecones masked the air pollution.

In the mornings the air was crisp, given that it was winter like it was now, and it felt just like a real forest.

"So, what are you two arguing about?" Kiku asked softly.

Homura blinked, having been too absorbed in her own thoughts. The trunks of the trees and the mushy looking dirt carpeting the ground were all a uniform brown, and for a moment the brunette standing ahead of her on the path seemed to blend into the environment. Kiku had her hands clasped behind her and was facing the sky, seemingly trapped within her own reverie.

The time traveler watched her for a while. It really was quiet here. A bird chimed a brief song somewhere above them, but it faded quickly, and the crisp absence of sound returned. She realized that this was why Kiku spoke so quietly.

"I don't know if you really would be interested," Homura said honestly, following her down the path with light footfalls. An intermittent wind brushed through the boughs above them, and the trees seemed to shiver in delight.

Kiku smirked back at her. "I'm always interested in gossip," She said slyly, "Especially when it concerns my friends."

_Friends._ Were they friends? She supposed they were. They certainly weren't enemies.

Then again, people could be so much more than either of those two.

They walked a little deeper in the woods, as Homura considered whether or not to tell Kiku about what had happened. She preferred to keep her problems in-house, but that was usually possible because she was capable of handling all her problems herself. This time, she wasn't so sure. There was no guarantee that Kiku would know either, but sometimes she had to take chances, right?

"I told Kyouko that I want to take things slow," Homura began, trusting that Kiku would understand her meaning. "I didn't say it without prompting; I was driven to do so. You know what I mean."

Kiku nodded sagely, reaching out to brush an array of hanging leaves in passing. "And she's being difficult because of it?"

"That's what I thought at first," Homura said, keeping her eyes fixed on the horizon. It was the high of the afternoon by now, and was feeling a little hot in her heavy coat. She hadn't planned to be out and this hour. "But I feel like it's something different. Kyouko wouldn't get this angry over something that trivial. This is something bigger. Something I don't know about."

Kiku reached up and snagged a small branch from the sagging boughs of a tree, and began to pick absently at the dozens of little leaves, tossing the severed flakes of green behind her. She left a trail of plant feathers behind her.

"But is it really that trivial?" She asked aloud, still focusing on her leaves. "The physical intimacy, I mean."

"Isn't it?" Homura replied, genuinely puzzled. She watched as another green oval was yanked out and tossed into the wind. The dirt crunched willingly beneath her boots. "Would it really be that important to someone?"

"I'm not saying that it's the reason for everything," Kiku responded calmly. She had stripped the branch half bare by now. "But it could mean something. Think about it, Homura. If not for the obvious reasons, why would Kyouko be so cross about losing the privilege to have her way with you?"

Homura lapsed into thought as Kiku continued to attack the branch, marking the trail behind them with a thin swath of pale green. What other reasons could there be? She was no expert, but she didn't imagine that there was any motivation behind physical intimacy besides, well, gratification. She understood that there were mental and emotion ties to it, but those were rarely primary motivators...

Frowning to herself, she thought about how much the bowl of oatmeal earlier that week had seemed to disgust Kyouko, even though she had been rather sure it was made to the redhead's liking. It wasn't the quality of the food, then. So what had tainted its status? What else determined the worth of what you threw into your own stomach?

Homura had never been very gifted in the field of philosophy, but the answer came to her easily enough. If it wasn't the quality of the food, it was the quality of the person who gave it to you.

Kiku exhaled loudly through her nose, tossing the now skeletal branch over her shoulder. It fluttered to the ground like a ragged feather, buried underneath the dirt forever.

"What I'm trying to say, Homura," Kiku elaborated, "Is that Kyouko might be struggling with inferiority."

Homura stared at her. "What?"

"Just think about it," The brunette pressed, turning and locking their eyes together. There was a rather foreign maturity and understanding in her eyes that hadn't been there before, which Homura hadn't associated with the illusionist. "I'm assuming you make the meals. You probably took care of everything to make sure she could attend school. You help her with her studies. You wake her up in the morning, you make sure she gets dressed and boards the train on time, and you're the one who's always lecturing her. And that's just what I can infer from talking to Mami."

"Your point?" Homura asked, feeling slightly intruded upon.

"My point," Kiku repeated, "Is that there's hardly anything that _she_ takes care of. Every relationship has its more responsible member, but even I have to admit that in your case it's a little extreme. I know you have only the best of intentions, Homura. We think the same way, in that regard. But sometimes you have to draw the line and let Kyouko help herself, instead of taking everything upon your own shoulders. Physical intimacy was the only area of your relationship where _she_ was the one who really took the reins."

"And I took those reins away from her," Homura muttered, completing the analogy.

"Took them and cut them right off," Kiku agreed, making the shield user blanch. Homura stared at the ground for a while as they followed the path ever further, traversing towards the far side of the great park. There were no other families in sight now; it was just the two of them, and the winged sentinels in the branches above them.

"But don't you think we're too young to be doing things like that?" Homura said, wringing her hands together. "I'm still just a high school student, and so is she. It just...it doesn't feel proper."

Kiku actually laughed at that, and it was meant to be scornful. She managed to calm herself down before speaking. "Sorry," She said when Homura glared at her irritably. "But that's just so _ridiculous_, Homura. Think about who you are. You've been living by yourself for god knows how long. Is that proper? You've raided yakuza hideouts for weapons that would land you in prison for your entire lifetime fifty times over. Is that proper? You're gone out past the general curfew to hunt bloody _demons_ for the past year, you've wrecked an entire cathedral to prevent the end of the world as we know it, and you've eaten another person's _soul_" -Homura visibly flinched at that last bit - "...is any of that proper, in any remote sense?"

The raven haired girl clutched the hem of her coat. "All those things aren't the same as what I have going on with Kyouko," She growled. "All of those things weren't my choice entirely."

"I know," Kiku allowed, "But what I'm trying to say is that we're not _like_ normal people. We've all been through so much, and it's aged us. Even I feel older than others my age. I can only imagine how much more mature you are mentally than other sixteen year olds. Kyouko's been contracted for even longer; imagine how _she_ must feel! That's why I wasn't that surprised to find out you two had ended up together, actually. You two never really had anyone else to fall for but each other. No one else could possibly have understood you, and kept up with your maturity level, as Kyouko. And vice versa.

The brunette took a deep breath then, recovering a bit before continuing her monologue. Homura saw an opportunity to jump in but didn't take it, thinking that for once she would listen, and maybe hope for an external answer to her problems.

"That's why I think this 'too young' argument is bullshit," She continued, sighing softly. "Neither of you are too young for anything. The only question is whether you _want_ to. And if you really don't, then that's that. But if you do, there's no good reason for you to be wishy washy about it. Life isn't forgiving enough to be indecisive about what you want. Hell, it doesn't even have to do with just sex. If you really want to put in ninety percent of the work, then be prepared to face the consequences. But otherwise, it might be advisable for you to work towards making it fifty fifty, so that you're both putting something into it."

Homura was silent for a very long time after that, and they walked for so long during that span that they actually reached the other end of the park. Here lay the great lake that formed Mitakihara's bottomless heart. The sun glittered brilliantly off the icy waves, and the wall of trees surrounding them made it feel like another world.

They stared into this other world from the edge of the tree line, both brooding to themselves until Homura deigned to speak.

"Fifty fifty..." Her breath fogged before her eyes, and for a moment she was blinded by the crystalizing air. She was lost and blind, and could only wait for the obscurity to clear. "Like an investment, huh?"

"Love is a stock that never stops rising, and can never be sold," Kiku murmured. It sounded like a quote, the way she said it, but Homura couldn't recall where it might have come from.

Leaning against a tree, she really tried to think about it. She thought about Kyouko, and she thought back to all the various times they had explored each other in the past. Those encounters had always had a sort of mystic veil over them, making them difficult to remember, but she could recall how nervous she had always been. The uncertainty of what she was doing, and the underlying fear that she was doing something morally wrong, a fear that made her fingers clumsy and her lips numb.

And when she couldn't reciprocate, it just felt like she was being suffocated.

But had there been actual disgust beneath that? Closing her eyes, Homura mustered her courage and tried to remember the sensation of having Kyouko's lips brush against hers, the small thrill that raced up her spine whenever their errant tongues would meet, the way her heart throbbed painfully when the redhead tugged lovingly at her hair. There had been fear, certainly, of the unknown and of moral obligation. But beneath that...beneath all that...

She could only remember a hot, burning happiness, and the desire to feel that way forever.

Eyes flying open, it finally occurred to her that she missed Kyouko's touch, her smell, the way the girl would smirk at her once she knew she had Homura wrapped around her pinkie finger. The past week had been completely devoid of any of that, and Homura realized that she ached for it. She felt almost hollow.

It was the ultimate hypocrisy, really. Hadn't she been the one to suggest they take things slow?

Groaning, Homura pressed her forehead into the bark of a tree.

"This love stuff is impossible," She muttered.

Kiku laughed, reaching out to pat Homura reassuringly on the head. "So, you do love her?" She asked, eyes twinkling with mischief.

Homura chuckled softly and hid her eyes behind her arm, moistening her lips before speaking. "I don't know if it's love yet. I'm not sure if I'll ever know. But I can say with confidence that it's the single most difficult thing I've ever attempted."

The brunette smiled sympathetically and drew back, taking a seat on the cool grass and tearing out a few stalks to play with. "I know how you feel."

Homura eyed her from behind her arm. She supposed it was her turn.

"So, how are things with Mami?"

* * *

><p>Mami had been so excited in suggesting they go for a walk that she actually had no idea where they would be going, so she settled for heading towards the park first.<p>

"Were you home alone?" Kyouko asked her, hands stuffed deep into her pockets. So she still had a habit of doing that. It seemed that some things hadn't changed. The thought gave Mami some degree of comfort.

"Kiku went out to the market with Homura a little earlier," She replied, rubbing her hands together and breathing into them. She had forgotten her mittens in her haste. "They sent up the groceries and went off somewhere just a minute ago, actually. I've no idea where, though."

"Oh," Kyouko said hollowly, and Mami instantly regretted mentioning Homura's name.

They reached the woods some time later, choosing to skirt around the edge of the trees rather than enter the thickness of green. Mami could see the edge of the lake in the distance, and quietly resolved to head there for now.

Kyouko randomly paused at one point, turning her head to stare down the length of another trail that wound off into the depths of the trees. Mami stopped and stared curiously down the road, wondering what had drawn the redhead's interest. "What is it?"

Kyouko scrutinized the path for another moment before raising her nose to the wind and inhaling. She shook her head. "Nothing," She hefted her shoulders and continued walking.

"I thought I smelled Homura, for a second."

Mami stared at Kyouko's back as they walked. It was obvious that the redhead was in a foul mood; it was evident in the way her shoulders hunched, in the lines in her face. The chances that Homura had something to do with it were also rather high; after all, that girl seemed to be involved in everything these days. The thought strangled her heartstrings momentarily. Increasing her pace, she came up even with the redhead.

"So, uh..." Mami groped about for a conversation topic. "Nice weather today, huh?"

"Yeah," Kyouko said in a monotone. "I guess."

Inwardly, Mami was beheading herself. How horribly _cliche_ could she get?

"Look, Mami," Kyouko said, pursing her lips. "Could I ask you about something?"

Mami already knew she wasn't going to like whatever Kyouko might want to talk about, but she found herself nodding anyways. The redhead seemed awfully relieved when she did so, however, and that somewhat made up for it.

"Thanks. That means a lot," She said earnestly. The redhead paused to gather her thoughts before continuing. "It's just that, well, Homura and I are kind of at odds right now."

The blonde's eyes narrowed, and her mind sharpened. This was the first she had heard of this. Why hadn't Homura mentioned anything earlier?

"I won't bore you with the specifics," Kyouko said, as the came ever closer to the lake. "But I got to thinking lately, and I kind of realized something that's been bothering me for a while." She stopped again, uncertainty crossing her face and contorting its contours.

Mami realized then that Kyouko really was seeking advice from her. This wasn't the time to be selfish; if the redhead wanted to talk about Homura, then they would talk about Homura. Exerting her motherly aura to full effect, the blonde asked gently, "What's bothering you?"

Kyouko shifted uncomfortably as the gravel crunched beneath her boots, obviously struggling.

"I...I just feel like I'm not good enough for her," The redhead finally confessed. Before Mami could say anything back, she steamrolled forward to get more words in. "I mean, she's definitely smarter than me. And more organized. She's more responsible than I'll ever be, and she's prettier to boot..."

"What are you talking about?"

Blinking, Kyouko looked at the blonde. "What?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Mami said sternly, crossing her arms and invading the redhead's personal space. "What makes you think you aren't good enough for Homura? Because she gets better grades? Because she's more logic oriented? So what? That doesn't make you worth any less than her. Besides, Homura and I might not always see eye to eye, but she's no fool. She wouldn't pick someone undeserving of her as a partner, that's for sure."

"But..." Kyouko muttered, staring at the ground. "I just feel like she's in control of everything."

"Then make it otherwise," Mami insisted, reaching up and clapping both her hands on either side of Kyouko's face. Her palms made a loud smacking sound when they made contact, and the redhead's eyes went wide. "This isn't like you, Kyouko. You're supposed to be the confident one; I know you. When you want something, you take it. If you want to be in charge of things more often, then make it so. I didn't let Homura have you so that you could become as tough as a block of tofu!"

Kyouko stared at her for a moment, then burst out laughing.

Wide eyed, the blonde let go of her cheeks and backed away. "_What_?" She asked, absolutely bewildered. Without really knowing why, she felt her face flush with heat. The redhead simply smothered her laughter but failed miserably, taking another minute to calm down enough to speak coherently.

"Nothing, nothing," She giggled, wiping at her eyes. "It's just that you've looked stiff all day, Mami. Not just today, either. But that rant just now...it was good. It felt like old times."

_Old times...I know you._ Those words echoed through the blonde's mind. Were they really true? "Well, I wouldn't say our relationship is what it used to be," She responded. It was supposed to be playful, but it came out melancholy instead. She hoped Kyouko would't catch it.

She did. The redhead eyed her with an arced eyebrow, making Mami fidget under her crimson gaze. Kyouko had grown a little in the past few months, and she was noticeably the taller one now. It seemed that the redhead had somehow grown past her, when she had started out as nothing more than a lost little girl Mami had taken under her wing, all that time ago. She wondered when the change had taken place, and why she had failed to notice it.

"Look, Mami," Kyouko said, rubbing at the back of her head. "I know things haven't been the same between us for a long time. With everything that happened...well, it just wasn't possible. But I don't want you to think that I don't care about you anymore, because I do. I really do. Like you said; you know me. I don't hang around people I don't like. That's how you get yourself killed on the streets, after all."

The blonde looked up at her - looked _up_ at her, what a jarring realization - and blinked. "Really?" She said, sounding a lot more innocent than she would have preferred. Wasn't she supposed to be the senpai?

"Really," Kyouko affirmed, reaching out to grasp Mami's shoulder. "Of course, I care about Homura too," She added. "I care about her alot, Mami, and that's true too. And I don't ever want to have to choose between either of you. You can't quantify emotions like that. I don't think things are ever going to be exactly like they used to be; that's what happens when you add more members to the list of people you care about. All I'm asking is that you try to be okay with that."

Mami stared up at Kyouko for a while longer before chuckling softly to herself, reaching up to rub discreetly at her eyes. The redhead politely looked away.

"Jeez," She said, reaching out to punch the taller girl on the shoulder. "When did you get so mature?"

Looking up, Kyouko looked around to check where they were; they were at the shallow banks of the lake by now, standing at the beginning of a long pier that extended into the depths of the waves before them. Taking a step forward, she placed one foot on the wood of the pier. It creaked under her weight, but held. Turning, she regarded Mami and grinned widely at her.

"Guess things just change. That's how life works."

* * *

><p>Kiku laughed.<p>

"I don't even know about Mami anymore," She said, tearing at the grass with renewed fervor. "You should actually be more worried about her than I am, Homura. She seems awfully inclined to get close to Kyouko again."

Homura frowned at her. "Yes, I've noticed. And I don't understand why, quite frankly."

The brunette kept ripping at the dirt, getting the stuff under her fingernails, but she was still listening. "Why not?"

Homura exhaled slowly and stared out over the lake, but had to look away quickly; the sun was beginning to set, and it was setting the waves on fire. She had taken a seat beside the illusionist on the grass, and the trees seemed to curl around them, shading them from the sun. Reaching down, she began to pluck at the grass herself.

"Excuse me if this is just a misunderstanding," Homura said, "But I was always under the impression that Mami's first priority was always you."

Kiku said nothing.

"She went through such lengths to ensure your safety," The time traveler continued, "And when you contracted she went through severe mental and emotional stress, as she believed that she had failed to protect you. Whether for good or ill, I always just assumed that you are a very important person to Mami, and I don't think I'm so wrong either. Am I?"

The brunette stared into the sunset, and Homura wondered how she could do that for so long without frying her eyes to a crisp. Maybe the girl simply didn't care. "Mami..." She said, rolling the name around on her tongue, tasting it, figuring out its intricacies and attributes. "The thing about Mami..." She paused again. "You seem to be rather perceptive, Homura; so let me ask you: have you noticed anything about Mami and I, recently?"

Homura watched Kiku's pupils, wondering when they were going to catch fire, but they didn't. "She seems...rather relaxed around you," She said diplomatically.

Kiku snorted. "Dismissive, more like," She said, and Homura knew her attend at euphemism had been useless. "And there's a reason for that. There's a reason why Mami is so interested in Kyouko all of a sudden, and why she does what she does. You see, the thing about Mami..."

Homura waited, weaving the long blades of grass she had pulled up into intricate knots, but Kiku simply kept tearing them. While she created, the other destroyed.

"The thing about Mami," Kiku repeated, "Is that she is always searching for her utopia."

The time traveler made another knot, then froze. "Utopia?"

"She always focuses the most on the relationships that are in the most danger," Kiku said almost bitterly. Her nails were almost raw now from the digging. "She wants her ideal situation, where everybody gets along, where no one has problems, where nothing threatens the eternal peace she strives for. A month ago, the relationship in most danger was mine. But now that the crisis has passed, now that I'm safely locked away in her apartment where I'll be by her side forever, there's no more need for 'maintenance'. She could rest easy for now...that is, until the problem with Kyouko cropped up."

Homura stared down at her fingers, which were no longer weaving. _Utopia._ Was that really true? Was Mami that obsessed with creating her own perfect world? After giving it some thought, she realized that it was actually quite easy to believe. Almost too easy. There was certainly enough evidence to support the theory.

It was tragic, romantic, and disgusting all at once.

Homura really didn't know what to make of it.

"And you know what the worst part of it is?" Kiku said, drawing the shield user's attention back to her. She stopped clawing at the dirt, but she had already left a hole big enough to fit her fist into, gaping open in the earth like a ravaged heart.

"The worst part of it," She said, "Is that despite how often Mami uses me, I keep coming back. This has happened before, you know. When we were at school, there were periods where she would talk to me more or less often. I never figured out why, but now I know. Those days when the hunting gets tough, when you feel alone and choked with despair...on those days, you need someone to talk to. And that someone was me. I was her comfort pillow. I wasn't stupid. I knew that something was up. And once I learned the truth, I felt so _used_. Once certain conditions were attached to our friendship it became something less. But despite all that, despite everything, I still love her more than any other human being on this planet."

Homura had simply gone still to observe Kiku rant, but even her eyes went wide at the final statement. She had always had a suspicion of the fact, but to hear it said out loud, and so frankly...

"I became Saki. And I did all those things for her," Kiku said. "Even after knowing that Mami is never the best of people to those she cares about. And _she's_ the one who felt used after my secret was exposed."

That really was the greatest of hypocrisies, Homura thought, as Kiku began to quietly cry to herself, dripping tears into the grass. She watched the little droplets of water soak into the dirt, and wondered if it would take root and sprout into new grass blades, or descend straight to the core of the earth, where it would be incinerated forever. She knew that sometimes it was easier to simply choose the path of incineration. But it wasn't always for the best.

Reaching out, she awkwardly put an arm around Kiku's thin shoulders, giving the girl a brief but firm squeeze. She didn't know the first thing about comforting people, but she understood that the illusionist had no one else on her side right now. Homura was the best she had, and the time traveler didn't want to fail her.

Looking up, she gazed out over the lake again and saw two figures on the far pier. Squinting, she recognized one of them as Kyouko, holding conversation with a slightly shorter girl. Mami.

"Go," Kiku said. "Make up with Kyouko."

Homura frowned at her. "But-"

"I'll be fine," The brunette interrupted, shrugging off the arm around her shoulders. "It's my problem, and it's been my problem for a long time. I can handle it. Go," She ushered again, shooing Homura away. The shield user obligingly stood up and hesitated at the edge of the tree line. She seemed as if she were about to say something, but turned around and started jogging towards the pier instead.

Kiku watched her go for a while, until her back was too small to be worth looking at.

Bending down, she quietly began to fill in the hole she had made.

* * *

><p>The pier looked to be far away, but it was much closer in reality. Homura found herself running up to the beginning of the wooden protrusion in just a few minutes, slowing to a stop when she saw the two girls speaking quietly to each other at the end of it. They seemed to be enjoying themselves, and for a moment Homura was afraid to intrude upon their atmosphere.<p>

Kyouko hadn't noticed her yet, but Mami had. The blonde would have been more than content to let the time traveler simply stand there, but a mental transmission from Kiku preempted her.

[_Why don't you give the young couple a little time?_] She said. The blonde blinked and turned away from Kyouko, eyes scanning the swaths of trees surrounding the lake. She finally spotted the brunette behind a low hanging tree, almost hidden in the shadows.

[_It's the least you could do,_] Kiku added, after a moment's thought.

Mami smiled.

[_I guess you're right._]

"Mami?" Kyouko asked, puzzled to find that the blonde was now facing away from her. Turning back around, the older girl gently slapped the redhead on the shoulder.

"I think I've taken up enough of your time for today," She said. "How about you switch out for someone else?" She pointed her chin at the base of the pier as she said this, and Kyouko turned around to see Homura waiting nervously for her. Walking past the redhead, Mami waved and offered a brief farewell, thus closing her day.

She walked to the base of the pier and passed Homura, who eyed her a little nervously.

"She's all yours," Mami said, before disappearing into the trees.

Homura watched her go, wondering what had changed. But she dismissed the thought; she had other things to address. Biting her lip, she began walking down the length of the pier. Kyouko watched her every step of the way, until they both stood beside each other by the edge, the lake reflecting their faces in distorted proportions.

"Hey," Homura said, with impossible softness. The lake rippled with her words, and she wondered how deep they would reach.

Kyouko couldn't meet her eyes. "Hey," She replied, fingering with something in her hand. Looking down, Homura saw that she was holding a small, round pebble. Reaching down, she gently took hold of Kyouko's wrist to get a better look.

"What is this?" She asked, inspecting the little rock. It was remarkable in its sheen, but nothing more.

"I picked it up on the way here," The redhead said, still averting her gaze. "I thought it looked pretty."

"Hm," Homura hummed, seeming to agree with her.

Then she lashed out, seizing the stone with Kyouko's hands, and tossed the pebble into the lake.

"What...hey!" The redhead yelled, staring in horror as the rock sailed through the air. It arced gracefully a single time before going _plink_ into the lake, making an incremental splash before disappearing to the lakebed forever.

"What the _hell_ was that for?" Kyouko asked, her awkwardness momentarily forgotten as she stared slack jawed at Homura. The time traveler was just gazing smugly back, smiling triumphantly even, apparently very proud of her ability to toss small stones into bodies of water.

"It's an analogy, Kyouko," She explained.

Kyouko gaped. "_Pardon?_"

"You know me," Homura elaborated, stepping back until her heels rested on the edge of the pier. "I'm driven by necessity. If I think something will be useful, I keep it. If I deem it worthless, and I get rid of it." She gestured towards where the pebble had bid its farewells for emphasis.

Kyouko just shook her head, reaching up to rub at her temples. She was too bewildered to even get angry. "And your point is?"

"Well..." Homura bit her lip, apparently thinking about her next words. "Do you see me trying to toss you into the lake?"

Kyouko paused.

"What are you trying to say?" She asked slowly, though she thought she knew where this was going.

Homura blushed slightly, giving her cheeks a light pink tinge as she reached out and snagged Kyouko's sleeve with her fingers.

"What I'm trying to say," She murmured, "Is that I need y-"

The rotten wood of the pier collapsed under Homura's weight, and suddenly she wasn't standing on solid ground anymore.

"Gahhh!" She wailed, before plummeting into the lake with a much more impressive splash.

"Homura!" Kyouko said, running forward to peek over what was left of the pier. She saw the time traveler flailing wildly in the water, whipping the liquid into a froth. "What are you doing? Get out of the water!"

Homura hollered something back at her, but it was swallowed by the waves.

"What?" Kyouko shouted, cupping her ear.

The shield user burst her head above water level long enough to bellow,

"I CAN'T SWIM, YOU BLOODY IDIOT!"

Kyouko blinked. "Oh." Then understanding dawned on her, and her eyes shot open.

"Oh, _shit_," She muttered, stripping off her jacket.

A moment later, an even bigger splash filled the sky.

* * *

><p><em>Drip, drip.<em>

Homura's nose tingled pleasantly as it stayed buried into Kyouko's collar, her sensitive ears picking up the rhythm of the redhead's steady breathing. It was night now, and the moon had dethroned the sun, with its army of stars and galaxies. It was an interstellar coup de tat, and it was the most beautiful of revolutions.

Pursing her lips, she flexed her ankle, then winced in pain; she had twisted it before falling into the lake, and it was still tender.

"Don't stress it," Kyouko quipped from in front of her. "It'll take longer to heal."

Homura wiggled her toes one last time before sighing.

"Yes, doctor."

She had, of course, been completely soaked after Kyouko had managed to drag them both out of the water. Having no other convenient sources of dry heat available to them, they had been forced to literally throw their coats off and lay themselves out like starfish on the banks, letting the sun roast their clothes dry. The burning star in the sky had quickly set, however, and their clothes were still a little damp. Homura hadn't brought her wallet, and Kyouko had no money to speak of. Kiku seemed to have hauled Mami back to their apartment already.

So walking it was.

Homura had insisted that she could walk on her own power, but Kyouko wouldn't have any of it. They had spent a full fifteen minutes arguing over how the redhead was going to carry her. Kyouko immediately suggested bridal style, but the idea was so incredibly embarrassing that Homura immediately rejected it. So they had settled for a piggyback, and now here she was, languidly inhaling the scent of Kyouko's neck as they trekked onwards below the stars.

_This isn't so bad,_ she thought, closing her eyes. Kyouko's hair was still a little wet from their dip in the lake, but she didn't care. It was warm, and it was Kyouko.

That was enough for her.

"You're an idiot, you know that?" Kyouko said over her shoulder. They were walking down some random road Homura didn't care to recognize, one that was lined on their side with a series of street lamps. The wind blew through them at regular intervals, but Homura didn't feel the cold.

"That's why I need you Kyouko," Homura murmured. Eyes half lidded, she pressed her lips against the nape of the girl's neck. She was exhausted.

The redhead inhaled sharply, and Homura arms, which were looped around Kyouko's neck, felt the girl's pulse jump. "Do you really?"

"Yeah," Homura said tiredly. She was on the verge of slumber. "Someone to tell me I'm an idiot. Someone to nag and bother me all the time. Someone to carry me home on their back when I do something stupid. Someone warm. That's why I need you, Kyouko. That and so much more. So don't..." She yawned, her warm breath tickling the redhead's ear. "Don't ever think you aren't worth something. Because I need you."

Kyouko carried her in silence, as the stars danced by.

"The moon looks great tonight," She said in response, some time later.

Homura inhaled Kyouko's scent again. It was intoxicating, and she had missed it so much.

"Its beauty is augmented by the stars," She drawled, chuckling at her own line. "See, they need each other too."

"How eloquent," Kyouko said sagely. "You should consider writing poetry."

"Mphh..." Homura murmured, craning her neck forward to whisper into the redhead's ear. "I don't think that would be very profitable."

"Why not?" Kyouko asked, turning her head. The shell of her ear pressed against Homura's lips, but the girl didn't pull away.

"Because," She sighed,

"I think they would all just be about you."

* * *

><p><strong>There was actually supposed to be more to this chapter, but it was already pretty long so I ended it here, since it seemed appropriate. <strong>

**Tell me what you guys think. I'm not really versed in writing stories based around romance and pure character interaction, which is probably why this chapter is 80% dialogue (my apologies for that). Probably a tone of typos too...**

**Also as a side note, Kiku's quote about love is not an actual quote, in case you were wondering.**

**And as always, thanks for reading!**

**~Banshee**


	25. Pineapples

Chapter 25: Pineapples

A few days later, Homura woke up to find the other side of the bed empty.

Eyes still glued together with sleep, she aimlessly groped at the left portion of her mattress and found it unoccupied. Her palm glided over the silky sheets and detected small waves of latent warmth, which at least proved to her that Kyouko's existence hadn't actually been an illusion this entire time. Still, that didn't tell her where the redhead was.

Cracking her eyes open, she twisted her head around. The blanket was tossed aside where her partner usually slept, and the pillow was smushed in. But there was no sign of the girl herself. Closing her eyes, Homura hypothesized.

Something wafted in through the door.

The smell of breakfast.

Blinking her irises open, she slipped out of bed and headed downstairs.

"Morning," Kyouko sang from her position by the stove, tending attentively to the flame.

Homura stared. "What are you doing?"

Kyouko finished adjusting the stove and went back to poking at her dish. "Making breakfast."

The younger girl eyed her for a while longer. "Why?"

"Am I not allowed to?" The redhead asked, this time not turning away from the task at hand.

Homura frowned at her, reaching up to pat at her hair; it was still rumpled from her sleep, and she didn't like it. It frizzed and it got everywhere. "Well, I suppose it isn't illegal," She replied, circling around the kitchen and taking a seat at the table. She watched Kyouko's back for a bit, observing the hem of her worn green apron fluttering about. It was slightly disturbing, as if their positions had been reversed somehow.

She chose to stare at Kyouko rather than initiate further conversation. Homura found that she had fallen into this habit recently, for reasons she would fail to explain. The two of them would be sitting in the same room together, simply enjoying each others' silence, and Homura would unfailingly find her eyes drifting back to the redhead's face. Sometimes it took several minutes, sometimes just mere moments, but it was a constant eventuality. She would take in the girl's features, the small intricacies of her expressions, everything. Homura doubted that Kyouko ever noticed this, but even if she did, the fanged girl acted otherwise.

Even now, Homura's violet irises observed Kyouko's quietly focused expression. It was a rare sight to behold, as the redhead was often bouncing from place to place, switching subjects of focus quicker than the eye could keep up. But it was focused now, and Homura languidly thought that she actually looked quite beautiful like that. Kyouko actually had quite strong brows, and her hair had started looking a lot nicer after she had begun showering regularly (which Homura had spent weeks drilling into her). Winter was beginning to creep away from them, so the redhead had deigned to sleep in a loose shirt that hung in all the right places, and a pair of pajama bottoms that showed just enough skin to tease at Homura's imagination.

A small spat of grease sprang out from the pan, singing Kyouko's hand.

"Ow," She muttered, reaching up to suck at her thumb.

Homura blinked, flushing slightly upon realizing what she had been doing. She tried to avert her gaze for the sake of pride, but found her eyes drifting back to watch Kyouko lick gently at her thumb, and felt an odd pressure in her chest upon doing so.

Kyouko finished the omelette she had been making a minute later, and served it to Homura with great pride. The time traveler admittedly poked at the meal a little nervously at first, no knowing how much faith she should be putting in the redhead's cooking ability.

"Are you sure it's edible?" Homura drawled, stabbing the omelette with her fork.

Kyouko snorted. "How rude of you!" She said. "I've cooked meals before. I know what I'm doing." As if to prove her point, she swallowed her own omelette in one massive bite, patting her stomach in an overly satisfied manner, for emphasis.

Homura rolled her eyes before refocusing on the food. She supposed it at least _looked_ edible.

Sending a brief prayer to Madoka, she bit into the omelette.

_Oh my god. It's good._

Kyouko graced her with a very smug smile as Homura wolfed down the rest of the meal, slowly placing her fork down on top of the plate afterwards. "Well?" The redhead asked, though she already knew the answer.

"I..." Homura licked at her lips for a moment before answering, which she noticed drew Kyouko's attention to her mouth. "I think you should make breakfast from now on."

The redhead grinned widely at her.

"I'd be glad to."

* * *

><p>Some time later, Homura was loading that week's worth of laundry into the machine when she noticed it was significantly smaller than usual. Frowning, she dug through the articles of clothing until she realized that all of them belonged to her only.<p>

[_Kyouko, what happened to your laundry?_] Homura asked telepathically, as the redhead was on the second floor at the time.

[_Eh? Oh, I did it already,_] She said back. [_Took care of it yesterday._]

[_Since when do you take care of your own laundry?_]

[_Since yesterday,_] Kyouko replied blandly. Then, [_Besides, it's kind of weird for you to be handling my underwear all the time. Unless you really want to, in which case I-_]

[_Thank you for your patronage,_] Homura cut her off, sighing as she pressed a button. The machine got to work, and she left the room. She would have talked to the redhead for longer, but the telepathy was giving her a headache, for some reason. Maybe she was just rusty.

Well, at least it would mean less work for her.

The following week brought about a few more changes of the same caliber. They were just little things, really, but being the detail oriented person she was, Homura noticed them immediately. She no longer had to remind Kyouko which toothbrush was hers, as the redhead had apparently put some time into memorizing what hers looked like. She had figured the laundry would just be a one time thing, but Kyouko consistently took care of it on her own time. And while Homura knew that she had been the one to suggest it, Kyouko quickly took over the duty of making breakfast every morning.

It wasn't that she disliked the situation; Kyouko's cooking was actually quite good, better than hers actually, and it was improving with practice. The redhead beamed smugly every time Homura complimented her an a new recipe, and it gave her something to do. It was just _weird_, she supposed. She had grown used to having take care of everything around the house, and Kyouko's arrival into her life had only compounded that at first. But now some things got done without her involvement.

Her nature rebelled against it initially. It bothered her to not know absolutely everything that was going on around the apartment, and she admittedly snooped in on Kyouko from time to time to find out when the laundry was being done. But she stopped that eventually, because she knew it was ridiculous behavior. She had spent the last few years, in her own mind, attempting to be in absolute control of everything. And while that kind of lifestyle had its merits, it wasn't the kind of existence she wanted. She liked being able to trust Kyouko to do her own thing, and if that meant getting used to a little weirdness, she was alright with that.

Besides, the redhead still couldn't stay awake through an entire history lecture unless Homura mentally screamed at her.

Still, something felt a little off. Occasionally when they were studying together, Homura's mind would wander off and she would stare absentmindedly at Kyouko, which usually prompted the redhead to frown and jab her between the eyes to regain her attention. Homura would yelp in pain and glare, but she could say nothing in her own defense. Wasn't Kyouko the one who was supposed to doze off all the time?

It wasn't just during their studies, either. Homura's heart would randomly clench whenever they brushed against each other, and she lost hours of sleep at night, as she lay there constantly thinking that Kyouko was snoring not a mere five inches behind her. She didn't know what to think of it. She actually began to daydream during class at one point, her, the great Akemi Homura, harbinger of concentration and mental poise, which had prompted Saotome-sensei to wack the edge of her desk with a ruler and demand to know what color the Indian flag was.

"Red," Homura almost murmured, as a certain girl's attractively messy locks floated through her mind. But what little common sense she had left managed to hijack her brain at the last minute, and she ended up saying something else entirely.

"Re-greeble!" She blurted out, and the entire class laughed. Blinking in shock, she gathered her bearings before saying meekly, "Um...green. And white. And black."

"Orange," Saotome corrected.

"Right," Homura muttered, sinking deep into her seat, hoping that the chair would grow a massive set of jaws and have her for dinner.

She had wanted to kill herself after that particular incident, but she pushed it to the back of her mind instead and assigned it the label "FORGET" before shoving it into one of her many mental cabinets. Her cerebral secretaries would take care of it, and hopefully choose to incinerate the documents.

It didn't prove so easy, however. The mental file cycled through her internal offices and came back to the supervisor's desk, that is to say, the forefront of her mind, this time with a vengeance. And it was upon a second review that Homura finally figured it out. The increased pulses, the strange way the pit of her stomach clenched, the wild thoughts that ran through her mind when she let her imagination wander in the depths of night, were all the telltale signs of lust.

Simple, hormone driven, teenage lust.

"God," Homura muttered upon realizing this, not even reading the book she had open anymore.

"What?" Kyouko said from beside her on the bed, looking up from her own homework.

"Nothing," She lied easily, burying her nose between the pages. This was all very strange. She had never felt a particular sexual attraction to anyone before, at least not to this capacity. She had entertained thoughts of it before, as everybody did at some point, but the subject of her mental experiments had never really mattered to her. But now Kyouko absolutely dominated those experiments, and Homura felt like she could fill entire encyclopedias with the "experiments" what were going on in her head.

But why now? What after all this time? That answer came rather quickly; it was her own fault. She had been the one to ask that they take it slow, but it had done nothing but remind her that you didn't know what you had until it was gone. Kyouko, true to her word, hadn't attempted to initiate anything between them since that day; there had been brief flirtatious touches, the occasional chaste kiss on the ear, but nothing that went beyond that. Homura had thought that this was a good thing during the first couple of days.

Now it was driving her absolutely insane.

"By the way," Kyouko said suddenly, "Mami said she wanted to come over in a little bit. She has a recipe for curry that she promised to show me." She shifted on the mattress as she spoke, and her words sounded deafening.

"Is that so?" Homura asked, distracted from nothing in particular.

"You were sitting right next to us during lunch," Kyouko said, frowning at her.

"Oh," Homura said tastelessly, scribbling something unintelligible on her notebook.

The redhead stared at her for a while longer, during which time Homura felt her ears heating to unbearable levels. "Whatever," She shrugged, pulling her own book shut. She threw her bare legs off the side of the bed and stood up. "I'm gonna go get a glass of water," The redhead informed her, turning to grab at the door handle.

Homura didn't know what motivated her to move so quickly, but suddenly she was stretching across the bed, reaching out to grab at Kyouko's sleeve. "Wait," She said, the word slipping out without permission, like a bundle of rogue sound waves.

Kyouko waved her arms, momentarily unbalanced by Homura's grip on her wrist. She let her weight fall back and sat back down on the bed, turning to blink curiously at her. "Jeez, I'll only be gone for a minute," She teased, smirking down at the time traveler. Homura gulped when she saw the glint of Kyouko's fangs. "Or can you not go that long without me?"

She leaned forward and pressed their noses together with a toothy grin, but she pulled back when Homura's irises dilated. "...Just kidding," She added, making to get off the bed again, but Homura surprised her by grabbing the redhead and pinning her against the mattress.

"Homura?" She breathed, looking up at the time traveler, who had Kyouko's wrists pressed against the sheets. Homura's pulse was roaring in her ears, and she felt unnaturally sweaty given that it wasn't even spring yet, and she couldn't slow her breathing for the life of her. Licking her lips, the shield user had to untangle her tongue before attempting to speak, but her words came out garbled regardless.

"L-Look," Homura stuttered, as Kyouko blinked curiously up at her. God, she was blushing like crazy, but it was too late to back off and pretend that this was just some joke. She would have to go through with thiis. "I know I'm the one who wanted to take it slow. And I meant it. But..."

"But...?" Kyouko asked softly, her own pulse increasing slightly. Homura could feel in in the girl's wrists, and the realization made her head swim.

"But..." The time traveler repeated, using her thumb to stroke slowly at the redhead's wrists, "If you want to...um, experiment...then I'm okay with that."

Kyouko stared at her, then pushed herself up into a sitting position against the front of the bed, and suddenly Homura was straddling the redhead rather than holding her down. The shield user bit back a gasp when their hips settled comfortably over each other, and the redhead reached out to brush a stray strand of midnight hair away from her face.

"Experiment, huh?" Kyouko asked, and something in the way she said it sent a thrill through her.

Biting her lip, Homura nodded.

Sighing, Kyouko dropped her hand down to her side.

"Why couldn't _you_ be my bloody science teacher?" She lamented.

Homura gaped. "What?"

Kyouko laughed out loud. "I don't know, I just feel like you would run the best 'experiments' in the school, you know?"

Homura felt her face redden a hundred times over, and she punched the redhead in the arm as hard as she could. "Ow!" Kyouko complained, rubbing gingerly at her bicep. The shield user simply glowered back at her.

"That's what you get for being inappropriate," She grunted.

"Can't you take a damn joke?" Kyouko grumbled, still rubbing the feeling back into her arm. A brief silence enveloped them, during which Homura wondered what was going to happen next. "Look, here's an idea,' The redhead said suddenly, tracing a small circle on Homura's knee. "Tell me something that you hate. Like, your least favorite food or something."

"Excuse me?" Homura asked, distracted by Kyouko's finger.

"This is something Kiku mentioned to me a while back," The redhead explained, removing her hand, much to Homura's disappointment. "To assign safety words, you know? If either of us feels uncomfortable, we just have to say the safety word. It's supposed to be a lot less awkward than just, you know, ruining the moment completely."

Homura thought back to the last time she had "ruined the moment" and blanched slightly. She supposed it wasn't a bad idea.

"Well..." She thought about it for a moment before coming up with something. "I _am_ allergic to pineapples."

Kyouko frowned. "Pineapples?" Homura just shrugged in response.

"Yes. They make me faint," She said.

_Weirdest allergy ever,_ Kyouko wanted to say, but she figured now was the rare instance where a joke wouldn't be particularly helpful. "Okay, pineapples it is then," She agreed. "If either of us feels overwhelmed, we just need to say the safety word, and we can go back to something...less intense. Okay?"

Homura nodded meekly back, and Kyouko had to resist the urge to smother her right then and there. A submissive Homura was so damn _appealing_.

"So, um..." The time traveler shifted nervously on top of her, and Kyouko was suddenly reminded of the fact that Homura was straddling her. "What do we do now?"

Showing her teeth, Kyouko reached out and brought Homura's face close. "We do this," She murmured, before locking their lips together.

It started as many of their previous kisses had before, with Kyouko taking the lead. The redhead looped her arms loosely around Homura's waist in order to keep her close, but didn't press too urgently, allowing the time traveler to keep her bearings. She kissed the girl gently, almost lethargically, effectively just brushing their lips together as she attempted to map out Homura's boundaries for the first time, identifying the line and slowly working towards eventually crossing it.

Homura sighed softly against her, which was a good sign. The younger girl didn't seem to know where to put her hands, and she settled for keeping them balled up in her own lap at first. That put her in an uncomfortable position, however, and she tentatively brought them up to tangle her fingers in Kyouko's hair, blushing furiously upon doing so. Then, closing her eyes, she kissed Kyouko back.

_Hell,_ the redhead thought, as for the first time, Homura began to reciprocate her advances. She had been the one doing all the touching, stroking, and groping before, and at the time that had been good enough for her. She'd had no idea how much better - how infinitely _better_ it felt when Homura was doing the same to her, running her thin fingers through Kyouko's crimson hair, licking almost shyly at her lower lip, making small, feminine sounds that didn't sound scared in the slightest. Submission was always a plus, but _willingness_...willingness was miles above it.

They broke apart for air, both of them breathing ragged breaths this time, dazed eyes gazing into each others' souls. Homura's fingers were now thoroughly stuck in Kyouko's hair, and her grip tugged at the roots just slightly, sending a pleasant tingle down the length of the redhead' spine. They hadn't even gone that far yet, but Kyouko's chest was already on fire, and she could tell that Homura was ready to take it a little further.

"Hom-" She began to whisper, but the girl in question silenced her with another kiss, and this time Kyouko felt their tongues brush against each other.

Homura squeaked quietly when she felt it, but didn't pull away, for which Kyouko was eternally grateful. She wasn't sure if she could have stopped herself otherwise. Tilting her head, she tentatively tickled the tip of Homura's tongue with her own, which earned her a strangled gasp from the normally stoic girl. The redhead would have smiled triumphantly to herself, but she was already occupied with Homura's tongue entering her own mouth, which was a surprise in itself. She half expected the shield user to stop and make some speech about how unhygienic open-mouthed kissing was, but this thankfully didn't happen. It instead remained a beautiful orchestra of wandering hands and slippery tongues as they continued to explore each other, one little step at a time.

Deciding that she could be a little adventurous, Kyouko took her hands away from Homura's waist and instead ran them down the length of her thighs, groaning internally when she felt soft, creamy skin giving way beneath her fingers. Those legs really were unfair. They were both delicate and held an innate strength at once, the product of months of leaping across the rooftops of Mitakihara in the dead of night.

"Nnn..." Homura sighed, blushing furiously despite herself even as Kyouko's hands made her legs tingle. She remembered something about a leg fetish and latently hoped the redhead wasn't disappointed, as she had no standard criteria by which to judge her own.

Though if Kyouko had had the capacity to speak, she would have said that there was no _way_ she could be disappointed.

"K-Kyouko..." Homura tried to say, but her lips were numb and her tongue was tangled around the redhead's, so she ended up biting Kyouko's lip by mistake. The redhead groaned loudly into Homura's mouth, and her entire body twitched in response. Homura gasped when their hips ground against each other, and her grip on Kyouko's shoulders tightened.

"God, Hom..." Kyouko growled softly, grazing her teeth along the girl's jawline as she lowered her head and breathed hotly against her neck. Homura felt goosebumps erupt across her flesh despite the heat, and when Kyouko bit her gently above her collarbone she cried out softly, wrapping her arms tightly around the redhead's neck, hugging her closer as the older girl continued to kiss and nip at her exposed skin.

"Kyou...ahhh..." Homura tried and failed yet again to say the girl's name, and Kyouko heart soared at how much of an effect this was having on her. Closing her eyes, she sucked gently on the shield user's neck, and this time the girl openly moaned. Homura bit back the sound almost as soon as it slipped out, flushing horribly, but Kyouko's mind was already torn asunder. She had _never_ heard Homura make a sound like that. Were girls even capable of making sounds like that? Could _she_?

Homura tugged impatiently at Kyouko's shoulders, and the redhead obliged, lifting her head to capture the girl's lips again.

Then there was the sound of the front door opening, and Homura's heart stopped.

"Kyouko, I've brought the recipe!" Mami called out from below them, her voice echoing through the halls.

Homura cursed and tried to push Kyouko away, even as her own heart hammered in her chest. "Kyouko, we need to stop."

"No," The redhead growled, grabbing Homura and pinning her to the bed.

"Kyou...ah!" Homura's angry retort turned into a barely suppressed mewl when Kyouko bit her on the exposed flesh of her neck, the redhead's sharp fangs almost piercing her skin. She had been bothered by those fangs for months, and to finally feel them poking lovingly against her skin...

No. She couldn't let herself get distracted. Mami was a mere floor below them, and she would come upstairs to find them eventually. "Kyouko, wait," Homura said sternly, though her voice wobbled unconvincingly.

"No," The redhead murmured again, her breath hot against the time traveler's ear.

"Please," Homura begged, turning to smother another gasp with her pillow when Kyouko bit her again. "Pineapples," She said desperately, fingers curling up the sheets in bunches. "I said pineapples. Pineapples, god damn it!"

"Kyouko?" Mami hollered again. "Are you home? What kinds of ingredients do you want to put in the curry? Helloooo?"

The blonde paused, hoping for a response, but there was none. She frowned disapprovingly; she could certainly sense the redhead's presence in the apartment, so why wasn't she answering?

"Kyouko!" She yelled again, cupping both hands over her mouth. "What ingredients-"

"FUCKING PINEAPPLES!"

Blinking, Mami frowned to herself.

"Well, if you insist," She muttered, reaching into her bag before searching for the cutting board.

* * *

><p>Kyouko took a healthy bite out of her bowl of pineapple curry.<p>

"You got here sooner than I expected," She said around her mouthful.

"I had some extra time," Mami replied sagely.

Homura sat staring at her own bowl of curry, face twisted into impressively grotesque proportions. Her nose wrinkled when it detected the faint scent of the detestable pineapples mixed into the dish. The entire absolutely reeked of the damn stuff, actually, and it was starting to make her head swim. Homura didn't particularly remember when her allergy to the bristly fruit had surfaced, but she would never forget the numerous (and embarrassing) accidents she had had from fainting on the spot.

Chewing on the inside of her mouth, she pushed the plate gingerly towards the center of the table and hoped she would get away with it.

Fortunately, Mami was absorbed with explaining the ins and outs of being a curry connoisseur to Kyouko. The redhead appeared to be surprisingly interested, given her part, as she listened intently to the blonde's instructions. Homura had never figured the redhead one very inclined towards home economics, but she supposed it was a useful set of skills to have, regardless of who you were.

The time traveler was about to let her thoughts drift elsewhere when her eyes throbbed.

Half blinking, half flinching, Homura reached up and rubbed discreetly at the bottoms of her eyes through her skin. This did nothing to help; rather, it seemed to compound the problem. She scrunched her eyebrows and rotated her eyes in their sockets, trying to locate the source of the problem. It was the same ache that she had experienced some weeks ago, a dull, throbbing drum from within the depths of her head. She had figured it to be the product of fatigue the first time, and thought nothing more of it. But she didn't know how to explain this latest recurrence.

Unless she could label what she had been doing with Kyouko as a source of fatigue.

"Homura, what's wrong?" Mami asked from across the table, sounding slightly concerned.

Blinking, Homura refocused on the blonde, who was staring at her with a withdrawn expression. "Oh, uh..." She glanced back down at her dish and felt her stomach turn over. "Nothing. I just...I'm allergic to pineapples," She admitted meekly.

Kyouko frowned. "So that wasn't a joke?"

"Well, you should have told me earlier!" Mami exclaimed, as Homura nodded and rubbed at her temples. "My, it must be giving you a headache. Do you have painkiller anywhere?"

The shield user nodded mutely, gesturing towards the kitchen. It felt like her skull was being split open by Kyouko's spear.

"I'll go get it for you," The blonde offered, getting up from her seat. "Really Kyouko, why pineapples, of all things?" She sighed, before disappearing into the kitchen. The redhead watched her leave with a small smile on her face.

"Why, indeed?" She said once Mami was out of earshot, looking at Homura and wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

The younger girl smiled, but it was diluted by her throbbing blood vessels. "What's the point of having a safety word if we're not going to use it properly?"

"As if you were at the pinnacle of self control when Mami walked in," Kyouko snorted. Her ruby eyes drifted up to Homura's fingers, which were still rubbing at her temples. "Is it that migraine again?" She asked softy, sounding somewhat worried.

"I suppose." Homura stopped massaging her head, if only to alleviate some of the redhead's paranoia. It hadn't been helping her much anyway; the pain seemed to be deeply internal, and a little prodding wasn't going to change that. "It's been a while since the last one, though. Migraines don't usually work like that."

Kyouko just continued frowning at her, and Homura was about to offer further scientific condolences when Mami yelled something from the kitchen.

"Homura, which cabinet do you keep the medicine in?"

Rolling her eyes, the time traveler opted to get up herself. "I'll go help her," She sighed, turning to join the blonde. Kyouko nodded in consent, reaching up to brush their fingers together in passing. Homura took her curry with her, padding her way down the hall, and found Mami rummaging through various cabinets in her kitchen, muttering to herself as she attempted to locate the elusive pills.

"Up here," Homura said, reaching up to a higher door and opening it. A large array of various over the counter remedies lined the space therein, though Mami noticed a few that couldn't be obtained through traditional means. The shield user reached in and selected a standard painkiller, dropping back down to unscrew the lid. Mami hurried to the sink and came back with a half glass of water, handing it carefully to the younger girl.

"Thank you," The time traveler murmured, before throwing her head back and swallowing two pills at once. She licked her lips absently as she felt the medicine make its way down her esophagus. Hopefully it would take effect soon; her headache was getting worse.

"Have you been sleeping well lately?" Mami asked, taking the glass from her and leaving it in the sink.

Homura thought about it as she stirred absently at her still full bowl of curry, ploughing her spoon through the stuff. "Well enough," She decided. The blonde hummed in response, and they both fell silent.

"Sorry for taking Kyouko the other day," Mami offered, as a way of making conversation.

"That's fine," Homura replied, closing her eyes briefly. Her throbbing head was beginning to calm down, for which she was ultimately glad. "I was occupied, regardless."

"I'm happy for her," The older girl said, smiling to herself. She leaned her elbow against the counter and made eye contact. "For Kyouko, I mean. She hasn't had someone to trust for a very long time. Maybe never, even. I'm sure it's a special time for her."

Homura processed this slowly, still stirring at her curry. Her supposed migraine was all but gone now, but something told her the medicine had had little to do with it. After all, she doubted painkillers took effect this quickly. "Didn't she have you?" She said, staring sightlessly at a tile on the kitchen floor. Then she realized her usage of the past tense, and looked up at the blonde.

But Mami was still smiling as she gazed at the door through which Kyouko was quietly enjoying her lunch. "I don't think I can be that person to her anymore," She said honestly, turning to look back at Homura again. The younger girl saw a world she did not recognize in those golden fields, a planet in a solar system she had never been allowed to visit during her discourse with the stars. "Kyouko is a surprisingly forgiving soul, and it is for that reason that I am still by her side. But I'll never be more than that, a friend, and an occasional confidant. In truth, I should be happy with just that, but it feels incomplete knowing that it used to be so much more."

Homura gazed down at the little yellow pineapples dotting her bowl of curry. She wondered, briefly, if Kyouko could here them from down the hall.

"I don't know if I will ever get much farther than that either," She said. It occurred to her that this was one of her few candid conversations with the blonde. "To be truthful, I don't really know what I mean to her."

Mami just laughed, walking over to wash her hands in the sink; they were still a little sticky from her cooking session earlier. "It seems that you are still blind in some respects," She said, smiling. "Kyouko absolutely _adores_ you, Homura. The Kyouko I get to speak with is still very real, very honest, but the side of herself she shares with you is a privilege held by you alone. I can see it when I watch her with you. She is still somewhat reserved around me; reserved around everyone, really, except for you. Don't underestimate the importance of that."

"I won't," Homura promised, if only to bring the topic to a swift end. The blonde nodded in affirmation, turning back to face the sink.

"Then I suppose I am leaving Kyouko in safe hands," Mami said, reaching off the shut off the faucet. She grabbed a towel and began drying herself. "It has been a long time since I was actually in charge of her well being, but I still feel a protective instinct towards her, you know?"

Homura pursed her lips, sluggishly scooping up a small spoonful of the curry.

"Yeah, I know," She murmured, before taking a bite. Closing her mouth, she instinctively swallowed. The time traveler shivered as her neck erupted with goosebumps, the telltale reaction that told her she had just consumed a pineapple.

_Wait._

Mami frowned, reaching over to peek into the younger girl's bowl. "Homura, I thought you were allergic-"

Homura's eyes rolled back into her head, and she collapsed on the spot.

"Homura!" Mami exclaimed, swooping forward to catch her.

* * *

><p>Two weeks quickly passed after that day, and to the two of them it meant a new phase of life. Now that Homura had chosen to open the door to physical intimacy, things became a little different between them. They continued to hold "experiments," sometimes squirreling away mere minutes at the end of the day, sometimes whiling away an entire hour. Progress was slow, but Homura steadily began to warm to the idea of enjoying herself through means besides conversation when in Kyouko's company.<p>

Things moved sluggishly, but Kyouko was always the one in control. Homura was fine with this at first, as she felt less inclined to take the lead in those kinds of situations, but eventually she grew to dislike it to an extent. Sometimes she wanted to reciprocate in kind, but that was a little difficult to do when Kyouko was always the one in charge.

But it was a small problem, a tiny one really, a wonderful problem to have. So, Homura just tried to not think about it.

And so more days passed.

Some time later, Homura was working idly on her schoolwork as Kyouko flitted around the kitchen.

"Trying out another recipe?" She asked, raising her nose to the air and taking a sniff. It was a particularly sweet scent today, with a hint of thickness to it. She wondered what it was.

"Just finishing it up," Kyouko replied, stirring the mystery substance in her bowl.

Homura hummed in response, switching her focus back to the arithmetic exercises. Though she was still getting used to running her body on something other than an internal clock, she had deigned to check her calendar that morning. It was now the sixth day of February, and winter's cold fingers were finally beginning to loosen their grip on Mitakihara. She, for one, was glad for it; though she preferred the cold, the perpetual snow that had frozen the city for so long had overstayed its welcome. She was running out of sweaters to wear, anyway.

It had also occurred to her that the fourteenth of the month would soon be upon them. Homura had, even after some quiet deliberation, but unsure whether she was expected to do anything for Kyouko. Not to mention that Valentine's was usually when the girl made her move; who, then, was the girl between them?

"Finished!" Kyouko declared, dropping her stirring spoon and throwing her hands in the air. Homura blinked and refocused her eyes on the homework, dismayed to find that she had failed to complete a single problem. She was letting her thoughts get to her too often. Sighing, she set her pencil down and leaned away from the worksheets.

"What did you make this time?" Homura asked, glancing at the deep bowl sitting between Kyouko's arms. The redhead had taken a strong affinity to cooking in the past few weeks, and Homura had to admit that she was surprised. The practice always seemed a little to...feminine to suit the girl, or at least Homura imagined that it required a level of precision and delicacy that she thought the redhead might lack. Nothing else about Kyouko was very "delicate," after all.

"Why don't you come here and find out?" Kyouko snarked. Rolling her eyes, Homura pushed her chair out and left the table, walking around the counter so that she stood by the redhead's side. Kyouko turned around and absentmindedly placed the bowl on the stove before putting the spoon away. Leaning over and peeking past the edge of the bowl, Homura inspected its contents.

"Chocolate?" She asked, puzzled.

"Surprised?" Kyouko replied blandly, stirring the substance a bit more. She looked almost homely, standing there in a bright pink apron with a bowl in hand. Her ponytail was tied up a bit higher than usual to keep it out of the food, and it exposed the nape of her neck. Homura found her eyes lingering there as Kyouko continued to speak. "Mami dumped a bunch of recipes she had when she came over, and this was one of them. And since Valentine's is coming up, you know, I thought I'd make some for everybody."

Homura stared at the rich, dark brown chocolate piled up in the bowl. "How...considerate," She said after a moment.

"You don't have to sound so surprised," Kyouko sighed, shaking her head. Then, reaching out, she swiped up a small glob of chocolate with her index finger and held it in front of Homura's nose. "Want a taste?"

The shield user stared at the liquified cocoa, watching it ooze enticingly off the end of Kyouko's finger. "Do you have a spoon?" She asked pointedly, meeting the redhead's eyes.

Kyouko stared confidently back with her trademark grin. "Do you want one?"

Homura gazed back at her. This was a challenge, and she knew it. She should have known that Kyouko would immediately begin to push boundaries once she lifted their embargo on physical intimacy. Part of that policy was still there, and she almost wanted to swat Kyouko's finger away and tell to go find a damn spoon. But another side of her, a darker, more adventurous part, considered her pride. If Kyouko thought she was going to cave so easily to something like this, she was gravely mistaken.

_I suppose we can call this another one of our "experiments," _Homura thought, taking a deep breath.

Then, leaning forward, she closed her mouth around the redhead's finger.

The first thing she tasted was the chocolate; it burst across her tongue like fireworks, entrenching its flavor within the roots of her memory like a vivid dream. Closing her eyes, Homura savored the taste as her tongue instinctively moved forward, sucking the last of the chocolate from the grooves of Kyouko's finger before she pulled back, her lips disconnecting with a deafeningly subtle pop. The redhead's hand was now completely devoid of any chocolate, but was slick with Homura's saliva instead.

"...Wow," Homura murmured, blushing despite herself as she swallowed the last of it. It sent a warm buzz through her veins. Kyouko's eyes were practically glued to her. "It's...it's good," She complimented, reaching out and patting the redhead awkwardly on the shoulder. Kyouko said nothing, simply continuing to stare at her slightly slack jawed, her tongue flicking out to moisten her lips in a way that was awfully distracting.

"Do you..." Kyouko swallowed before finally speaking, her voice sounding hoarse, "want more?" The chocolate bubbled seductively beside them, as if in invitation. Homura hadn't known that chocolate bubbled. Had it always done that?

Homura bit her lip as she considered her answer, and the kitchen was filled only by the soft hum of the stove runnings its fires.

Then it occurred to her; frowning, she said, "Kyouko, why is the stove-"

Just then, the massive bowl of liquid chocolate that had been bubbling over the stove that Kyouko had carelessly left burning exploded, and Homura's vision was swept up in a sheet of rich brown.

"Mother fu-!" Kyouko grabbed her and brought them both down to the floor as a great splattering sound assaulted their eardrums, and Homura screamed in horror as she felt the scalding droplets of liquid cocoa rain down onto them, as if the earth and the rain had traded places.

And then it was calm, save the beating of her heart.

Groaning, Homura tried to push Kyouko off of her, but the redhead clamped her hands over the time traveler's eyes and held her firmly against the ground. Frowning, Homura said, "What are you doing?"

"I don't want you to see the kitchen right now," Kyouko said meekly.

"Well, I already know it's a horrid mess right now," Homura grunted, tugging at the redhead's saliva coated fingers, but the hands did not move from her eyes.

"You're going to get mad at me," Kyouko muttered.

"I'm already mad at you. Now get off me."

She couldn't see, but Homura knew that Kyouko was pursing her lips in discomfort, as she attempted to deny the inevitable. Then, sighing in defeat, she released Homura and sidled off to the side. Blinking her eyes open, the time traveler got up and surveyed the kitchen.

Needless to say, it was utter carnage.

Chocolate. Chocolate _everywhere._ Oozing sluggishly down the walls, dripping off the end of the stove, staining the stainless steel refrigerator so thoroughly that it looked like a wooden cabinet instead. Some of the stuff had superheated during the initial explosion, and small wafts of scented steam rose from the thicker puddles that pooled on the floor, and the entire building reeked. She had been right; the kitchen was a complete and utter mess. This was going to take hours to clean up.

Looking down, Homura saw that her hands and arms were sprayed with small flecks of deep brown, and her nose and cheeks were similarly marked. Turning, she saw that Kyouko had it much worse, as the redhead had thrown herself on top of the time traveler in a vain effort to take the brunt of the blast. It had worked, though, and now the girl's entire top was ruined by the chocolate, and the stuff was in her hair too.

Turning away, Homura walked over to where the bowl was still sitting on the stove. Reaching out, she quietly shut the flame off and watched the bubbling subside. Kyouko stood up and shifted uncomfortably in the corner, wringing her hands nervously as she awaited her ultimatum. She was probably expecting Homura to glow a gasket and yell something incredibly rude, and she supposed that would be the expected response from her. But strangely, she wasn't mad. Well, she _was_, but not enough to get upset over it. This what was she liked about Kyouko, after all. The recklessness, the disregard for rationale that so completely polarized against her. It was rather refreshing, and Homura thought that Kyouko actually looked rather amusing standing there in the corner, like a lost child.

Sticking her finger into what was left of the chocolate, she inspected the substance with careful scrutiny. Her nose had become rather accustomed to the smell by now, and she was virtually unaffected by it. "You know, Kyouko..."

"Y-Yes?" The redhead yelped, shooting her head upwards. Homura had to resist the urge to laugh. The proud Sakura Kyouko, who normally never accepted so much as an iota of fault, was now completely ridden with guilt. Oh, it was so empowering. But Homura was kind at heart, and she didn't intend to let the girl squirm for very long.

"Catch," She said nonchalantly, flicking her wrist deftly to the right.

The glob of chocolate flew off her fingers and jetted across the kitchen, straight for Kyouko's face. The redhead, unprepared for this attack, failed to block it and took another healthy splattering of goo across her nose. Staggering backwards, she wiped the stuff away from her eyes and demanded, "What the hell!"

But Homura was the one smiling confidently this time, as she tossed the half empty bowl of chocolate at the redhead, who caught it clumsily.

"The kitchen's already a hopeless mess," She said, spreading her arms wide. Her hands were slick. "And I doubt we're going to be eating this, so...how about we have a little fun?"

Kyouko stared at her, quite honestly floored. The time traveler had never said anything like that to her before.

Then she grinned wickedly, hefting the bowl and scooping her hand deep within its contents.

"Oh, you are _so_ dead," Kyouko whispered, her eyes sparkling.

Homura smirked back, swiping up some of the chocolate sprayed across the countertop. "Prove it."

Yanking her hand out of the bowl, Kyouko whooped and hurled a fistful of liquid cacao straight at Homura's chest. The smaller girl spun and tried to dodge, but was no fast enough; she ended up slipping on the slick floor instead, falling to the tiled floor with a loud _oomph_ after getting her front drenched. "Gah!"

Kyouko roared with laughter, raising the bowl triumphantly over her head like it was a trophy. "Told ya!" She crowed, but her her victory was short lived; Homura chose to hurl her own sweetened projectile before getting up, and a solid glob of brown smacked into the redhead's chin, some of it going down her throat, burning as it seared its way through her gullet. "Yeow!" She gasped, spluttering as Homura dragged herself back up to her feet.

"That's what you get for underestimating me," Homura said, smiling smugly.

Kyouko wiped at her mouth with her sleeve, glaring needles.

"I'm going to get you for that."

The next several minutes were filled with the sounds of kitchen warfare as the two of them battled relentlessly, their laughing ringing off the walls of the apartment. Their chocolate bombs mostly missed, hitting the walls and making the mess even worse, but Homura couldn't bring herself to care. She was having _fun_. Her clothes were getting literally soaked with the stuff, and it was all over hair, but Homura could only focus on the radiant smile gracing Kyouko's face, them mirthful laughter emanating from therein, and pummeling said face with more chocolate bombs.

Eventually they actually ran out of concentrated chocolate to throw at each other, and they were reduced to simply flicking the stuff in each other's eyes. Deciding this fight had to be drawn to a close, Homura dashed forward and tried to seize the bowl from Kyouko's hands, but only succeeded in tipping them both over. Their heels slipped on the floor, and they went crashing down to the tiles.

They lay there together like that, Homura with her back to the ground and her arms splayed out above her head, one knee drawn up and the other leg stretched out straight. Kyouko hovered over her, arms on either side of her girlfriend's shoulders, casually straddling the time traveler's hips. Both girls were breathing hard, their hearts hammering from their exhaustive battle, but the light in their eyes held only boundless energy, and Homura couldn't stop smiling for some stupid reason as they continued to gaze at each other, momentarily dispelling the need for words.

Kyouko tried to say something, but it was butchered by her panting. Homura paused and gulped down a huge breath, finally regaining her vocal integrity for a moment. "What?' She asked, still grinning like a child.

"I said," The redhead repeated, reaching out and pushing Homura's bangs out of her forehead, "That you look amazing when you smile like that."

The shield user flushed lightly, but it wasn't noticeable because they were both a little red from the running around they had just done. Kyouko was always doing this, dropping lines straight out of a romance novel like it was absolutely nothing, and Homura seriously doubted that Kyouko had read any romance novels, which meant that it was all one hundred percent genuine. The thought made her heart explode into little messy bits, and for a moment Homura didn't know what to say in return, what kinds of words would convey the same meaning, the same emotions, without sounding like the awkward fool she knew she was sometimes.

Deciding that words simply wouldn't cut it, she looped her arms around Kyouko's neck and pulled her closer, so that their noses touched. The redhead's crimson irises drifted down to the region below said nose, but this time it was Homura who initiated the embrace, tilting her head and kissing the redhead without restraint.

Kyouko gasped against Homura's lips, and for two reasons; the first was that she had never expected the raven haired girl to take the lead in anything physical, and the move had caught her completely off guard. Though Homura often went along with her willingly, she had always been the one to initiate things. To be the follower was a totally knew concept to her.

And the second reason was, well...chocolate.

They had both inevitably ingested a small portion of the stuff during their fight, and at this time not all of it had been swept out of the crevices between teeth and below tongues and swallowed forever. This meant that when their lips parted and their tongues met, Kyouko tasted a _lot_ more than she usually did.

She trembled when Homura tipped her head and kissed her deeper, exploring every inch of the redhead's mouth without fear, without hesitation. There was a strong firmness, almost a passion behind the time traveler's movements that hadn't been there before. Suddenly it was Homura in control, Homura who was licking her in spots that Kyouko hadn't even known existed, Homura who was whispering words sweeter than the chocolate that mixed with their mingling saliva. Kyouko didn't know why, but she suddenly felt very much out of her zone, as she was wept up by the shield user's pace for the first time.

"You alright?" Homura asked smugly, knowing full well what the answer would be. She pulled back and traced the outline of Kyouko's lips with her tongue, watching the older girl shudder as her skin was teased. Homura didn't wait for an answer, however, pulling her in again before Kyouko could even think of formulating a proper response.

The redhead groaned when Homura retracted her tongue, the cruelest of things she could have done at the moment. But it returned a moment later, as the time traveler sucked gently on Kyouko's lower lip, licking the last of the chocolate away from that specific area. Kyouko's head swam dangerously and her stomach clenched, and her elbows wobbled almost desperately as she attempted to stay upright. When had Homura learned to do that? It had only been a week since the shield user had given them the go-ahead. Where had she gained all this _confidence_?

She didn't have time to be thinking about that, though, because Homura pulled away from her. Kyouko actually made a small whining sound upon realizing this, the reddened immediately afterwards; it wasn't characteristic of her to make such noises, but it had slipped out almost effortlessly.

Homura smirked up at her, and Kyouko's blush deepened. It was a look filled with nothing but hunger, totally devoid of the shy deliberation that had been there previously. The time traveler had her by the collar, and they both knew it. When had things gotten like this? It then occurred to her that in the past week, during all their numerous "experiments," Homura hadn't been submissive completely out of shyness. No, she had been collecting data, quietly taking note of all of the redhead's weak spots, what she liked, what she didn't, and what made her insides squirm to no end.

The crafty bastard.

"Aren't you..." Homura's fingers tightened gently around Kyouko's neck, massaging the muscles there and sending a buzz down the redhead's spine. "A little tired of tasting chocolate?"

"I..." Kyouko was literally tongue tied. She wanted nothing more than to pick up where they had left off, and this brief pause was killing her already paltry patience. "It tastes...better with you in it," She mumbled, not even knowing what she was saying. God, she couldn't even think straight. The wicked, knowing glint in the younger girl's eyes, the soft curve of her smile and the way she showed her teeth...had Homura really done this to her? Had she really been this terrifying a woman?

Then she realized that, yes, Homura had _always_ been like this. The greater error, the one mistake that she had made since the start of this relationship was underestimating Akemi Homura. She couldn't have expected her girlfriend to be weak about physical intimacy forever; eventually the girl would become accustomed to it, and start taking control like she always did. It was a fundamental part of her nature, and Kyouko had totally forgotten about it, which was why she was no struggling to form complete sentences.

Homura smirked. "You were never someone who is easily satisfied." Then, locking her legs over Kyouko's she shifted their weight until their positions was flipped. Now the redhead was looking up as the younger girl hovered over her.

In a vain attempt to preserve some of her own pride, Kyouko said, "I know you like that about me." She managed to slip some of her trademark aloofness into those words, but they still came out more wobbly than usual, and she knew someone like Homura was going to notice.

"Hmm..." Homura hummed softly, leaning in closer. "I guess I do." Then she turned her head slightly to the side, her violet eyes focusing on a small streak of chocolate left on the redhead's cheek. It seemed she had neglected to clean that particular area earlier. Shrugging inwardly, she bowed her head and licked the sweet goo off of Kyouko's skin, using only the tip of her tongue. The redhead's voice caught in her throat as Homura pulled back after planting a small kiss there, licking at her own fingers before she whispered into her girlfriend's ear:

"I do like that about you...but I think we'll stop here for today."

Then she was gone, pushing herself off of Kyouko and padding softly out of the kitchen, saying something about grabbing a change of clothes.

She left Kyouko laying stunned on the floor, still breathing shallowly as her eyes stayed fixed on the ceiling, seeing nothing in particular. Kyouko stayed like that for several minutes.

Then, groaning in half anguish, she reached up and covered her eyes with her arm.

"Holy _crap_."

* * *

><p>In most eyes this would have been the end of the story, but a select few omnipotent beings also saw Homura after she left the kitchen, and strode hurriedly down the hall.<p>

She made a quick beeline for the bathroom, rather than heading for a change of clothes like she had declared. Opening the door, she slipped inside and locked it behind her. Crossing to where the sink was, the time traveler turned the faucet up to full blast and drowned her face in the freezing cold water, steam rising from her head like a rice cooker.

"Ohmygod," Homura muttered, blushing harder than she ever had in her life, rubbing at her face and slapping her cheeks. "Ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod."

Turns out, it was a faked confidence.

* * *

><p>Some hours later, Kiku poked her head into the apartment and saw the kitchen.<p>

"Jesus Christ," She muttered, taking in the hurricane of brown.

"Oh, hello, Hanezawa-san," Homura said, who was enjoying a small cup of tea on the couch. She spoke as if the situation were totally normal, and it didn't look like a frost giant had just taken a massive dump on top of her kitchen.

"Uh, hi," The brunette said, frowning at the two of them. Kyouko was sitting beside Homura on the couch, looking a little worse for wear. Her hair was wet too, but it was the middle of the day. Why would the redhead need to shower at this hour? "What happened here?"

Homura pursed her lips. "We had a little...cooking accident," She said, shooting the redhead a glance.

Kyouko pouted. "Look, I said I was sorry."

"'Little'?" Kiku asked skeptically, taking another look at the battlefield across the apartment.

"Indeed," Homura greed sagely. "Don't worry, we'll start cleaning it up today. What is the purpose of your visit, Hanezawa-san?"

The illusionist sighed. She was never going to understand some things about these people. "Well, I _was_ going to invite you out for coffee, but it seems you're going to be busy today."

Homura opened her eyes and glanced at Kiku, who was still marveling and the chocolate whirlwind. An invite to a cafe? Why her?

"Well, I am out of cleaning solution," Homura said. "If you're willing to take a small detour so I can pick some up, I don't mind coming along."

Kiku raised her eyebrows. "Really?" She asked, but for some reason Homura felt like the question was directed towards Kyouko and not her. She turned to stare at the redhead, who was staring at Kiku, who was staring quietly back at her. Then the fanged girl shrugged nonchalantly.

"Do what you want," She said. "I can just start cleaning while I wait."

"You won't come?" Homura asked, genuinely surprised. She knew that Kyouko could be a little possessive of her, and she had expected more resistance, or at least an insistence that she be allowed to tag along.

"Nah," Kyouko said, waving her off. "Go. Take you time. But...hurry back, okay?"

After leaving Homura with that rather confusing request, she disappeared down the hall in search of a mop.

"Shall we go, then?" Kiku said, turning towards the door.

Homura stared at the hall for a little while before turning away.

"Sure. Let's go."

* * *

><p>One hundred minutes later, the two of them were sitting across from each other at a local cafe, having just returned from picking up a wide array of acids and solvents particularly geared towards cleaning up kitchen accidents.<p>

It was a small little place that Homura hadn't known about, but then again she didn't get out very much. It was on a secluded corner tucked away deep within the depths of the Market District, an area that didn't get much traffic to begin with. Not the most ideal place to open up a running business that depended on customer traffic, and Kiku later told her that the place had hosted many failed businesses in the past.

Kiku chose a seat by the window and ordered a simple latte, and Homura took the girl's advice and asked for the same. She knew next to nothing about coffee and actually preferred tea, as she knew how easy it was to get addicted to caffeine; Kyouko could barely make it out the front door without downing an entire mug in the mornings.

Though if things continued as they were, she might develop an unhealthy affinity for chocolate some time soon.

"This is a nice little place," Kiku said, clasping her hands together and gazing out the window. The road beyond the glass was empty, and to Homura the street looked like a black slash across the portrait of Mitakihara's skyline, as if an artist had completed a piece and swiped a pencil across the canvas out of frustration. It was far from perfect, this city, that much was true. But she supposed that was what made it interesting.

"It doesn't feel very...I don't know, 'cafe-esque'," Homura said, glancing around. The walls were made out of the same uniform chrome that the skyscrapers had been built out of, there were monitors hanging off the walls everywhere, and the noise was deafening. She could hear the sounds of machines and digital cooks whirring behind the counter.

Kiku sighed. "I know," She admitted, "But it's even worse everywhere else. There are hardly any actual cafe's lying around these parts anymore. When I was a kid my parents took me on a trip to the countryside, and they had an actual cafe there. It was so peaceful, and the coffee was so much better than this synthetic junk they sell here."

Homura absorbed the information quietly, taking another, longer look around the premises. It certainly appeared to be totally modern. But apparently that defeated the point. She wasn't entire sure herself; she had never been to one of these "actual cafes" that Kiku spoke of, and had only read about the concept in old books from the past century. She figured having a quiet place away from home wasn't such a bad idea.

"Kiku," She said finally, drawing the brunette's attention, "Why did you really call me out here?"

The illusionist smiled, squeezing the end of the table. "Do I need a reason? Maybe I just wanted to kill some time with you."

"That is entirely possible," Homura agreed, "But entirely unlikely, as well. Don't take offense or anything; it's just that you don't usually do this."

Kiku smirked. "Am I really that boring to be around?"

"I don't think you're boring," Homura said earnestly, earning herself an arced eyebrow from the brunette. "Really, I don't. We might not know each other very well, but I have nothing against you."

The older girl smiled wanly at her from across the table. Around them, the din of the cafe masked their conversation. "Kyouko might say otherwise."

Homura frowned, thinking back to how the redhead had reacted to Kiku's visit. She knew that Kyouko wasn't particularly fond of the illusionist, but it had never been expressed fully until then. She had thought that perhaps Kyouko was over Saki's deception, but apparently this wasn't the case just yet.

"Kyouko cares for Mami, who was admittedly hurt when your secret was exposed," Homura reasoned. "Anyone else would have been upset in that situation. And Kyouko can sometimes to be hard to convince; I'm not surprised that she's still callous over it."

Kiku stared at the table, scratching her fingernail across the hard surface.

"And you don't share her opinion?" She asked softly.

Homura blinked at her. "No," She answered readily, surprising the brunette. "No, I don't. You did what you felt was necessary to protect Mami. Even if it might have led to negative consequences, which it did, you were prepared for that. Personally, I don't see that as a bad thing. But not everyone is going to agree with me; in fact, people often don't."

Kiku smiled at her. It was still a little melancholy, but she looked grateful too. "I wonder where you learned to think like that," She said, gazing out through the glass.

Homura bowed her head. "If I had the time, I could tell you a story that would explain everything."

The illusionist glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. "Why not now?"

The shield user thought back to times of fire, of death and despair and endless suffering that repeated itself for eternity. She remembered a single, flaming arrow, and a pair of gorgeous pink eyes turning a divine golden before her.

"Maybe some other time," She decided.

Kiku frowned and looked like she was going to press the topic, but just then a service bot wheeled up and announced that their order had arrived in an obnoxiously loud voice. They both flinched at the sudden interruption, and irritably accepted the steaming cups of synthetic coffee from the wheeled robot. It wheeled off the annoy some other table. Still, Homura was glad for it. She didn't enjoy discussing the past. Quietly, she searched inside herself for a topic she thought Kiku might enjoy.

"Valentine's is coming up," She said hopefully.

Instead the brunette snorted disdainfully. "Yes, I am aware."

"You aren't doing something for Mami?"

The illusionist took an aggressive sip out of her cup and slammed it back down, a little bit of the black liquid sloshing over the edge and staining the table. "That girl wouldn't get my point if I sent her truckload of chocolate and aphrodisiacs," She growled.

Homura actually laughed at that one, which seemed to surprise Kiku somewhat. She supposed she didn't laugh very often around people not named Kyouko. "Is she still hopelessly oblivious?"

Kiku just shook her head, languidly inspecting her cup of coffee. "I'm starting to think it's all on purpose," She sighed. "Nobody can get such high marks in a literary interpretation class and be that dumb."

Homura wondered why she enjoyed hearing those words so much, and she realized that it was because it was finally someone _else_ saying negative things about Mami. Before it had always been her, trying to convince Madoka and Sayaka that staying attached to the blonde was not a good idea, and later when she had become involved with Kyouko. No one had seemed to agree with her back then, but now here Kiku was. How ironic that these words would come from someone who was apparently in love with the blonde.

"You're surprisingly harsh towards her," Homura observed, taking a draw from her cup. Her tongue could tell that the stuff was synthetic.

Kiku sighed loudly, leaning her chin into the table. "I don't really mean it," She groused. "But it just pisses me off so much. Sometimes I just want to grab her by those stupid hair ringlets of hers and shake her around until I get a concrete answer. Yes or no! That's all I really need, right?"

Homura put the coffee down and thought about that. "Is Mami even, you know..." She made a meaningless gesticulation, but somehow Kiku caught her meaning.

"I don't know," The brunette sighed. "Common sense tells me that she's probably straight. It would explain alot, actually. But I don't want to give up until I know for sure."

Homura reflected that while she often spoke about Kyouko with an affectionate sternness, whenever she spoke to Kiku, the illusionist talked about Mami with nothing but anguish. She wondered why the girl loved someone who brought her such pain.

"Does she have any plans after graduation yet? It's in a few months," Homura said. A lonely car zoomed by outside.

Kiku snorted. "No," She said. "She's lost in her own world, that girl. I'm upset over that too. She might have the money necessary to be so lax about her future, but she can't waste away like that forever! Eventually she's gotta get out there and accomplish something instead of worrying about trivial things like whether Kyouko is brushing her teeth every morning."

Homura blinked. "Does she really?"

"You've got no freakin' idea," Kiku said, rolling her eyes. "'What if she gets a cavity? Akemi-san doesn't have dental insurance!'" She mimicked in Mami's motherly tone.

Homura frowned. "How does she know I don't have dental insurance?"

The girl shrugged.

The time traveler pursed her lips, taking another sip from the coffee and regretting it. Really, what _was_ this stuff? "Well, she can rest assured that Kyouko does brush her teeth every morning."

Kiku threw her hands up in mock relief. "Thank you. I'm sure it'll ease her state of mind immensely."

They both shared a brief laugh.

"But hell, I've got dreams, you know?" She continued, dropping her chin into the palm of her hand and staring past the window. "I might just sit around the apartment all day and do nothing but shop, but that gives me a lot of time to think. I've painted a fantasy of sorts in my head, and sometimes I entertain that fantasy."

Homura sloshed her coffee around in its cup.

"What kind of fantasy?" She asked offhandedly, admittedly curious.

Kiku closed her eyes, perhaps considering whether to tell her. Then she opened them. "We joked about opening a restaurant together, once," She said, blushing from slight embarrassment. She stirred at her coffee. "It was just a joke, really, but I ended up really thinking about it. And before I knew it, I had added it to my fantasy, with a bunch of random details. It would be a cafe by day, and a bar by night, or something like that. We'd both manage it together, maybe hire a few part timers. Who knows, maybe you and Kyouko could work there if you wanted to. Regardless, we would all be in it together. Mami would be happy, and I would be happy to work by her side. It's the dumbest thing, really, but I can't stop thinking about it."

Homura sat still for a while, as Kiku continued staring grumpily at the road. She supposed it wasn't the most ridiculous of fantasies, but it was unlikely. She didn't know how realistic it was to make a living off a newly opened restaurant, especially if you only planned to have a handful of employees. And if the cafe was anything like this one, they wouldn't be getting anywhere fast.

"Well, it isn't impossible," She allowed.

Kiku scoffed. "It pretty much is," She said. "We'd need to take a loan out first, and I don't know anything about credit. Maybe we could save rent for a while. I don't know. But I don't understand the first thing about managing a place anyways. We'd just be one of thousands of joints all across this city. I'd need a miracle to fall out of the damn sky and land right in my lap, for all that to happen."

"I might be able to help you with that."

"What do you mea-" Kiku got halfway through her sentence before realizing that it hadn't been Homura speaking. Blinking, she turned and saw a middle aged woman sitting in the table beside them, smiling at them rather bemusedly behind her own cup of black coffee.

Homura's eyes went wide. "Kaname-san."

"Hey, there, Homura," Junko Kaname greeted her casually, waving an arm. She was dressed casually, and her hair had actually gained some inches in length, which was why Homura hadn't recognized her immediately. The woman's deep purple locks flowed past her shoulders now, and it made her look a little different.

"So you're back from your business trip?" She asked politely. She had already recovered from the initial shock of happening across the woman here, but Kiku was shooting glances at both of them, obviously confused.

"Just got back yesterday," The Kaname breadwinner sighed. "Took me months to get out of that country. But, what matters is that it's now over." She smiled at both of them, her eyes twinkling with powerful energy. "I seem to remember you asking me for some advice last time we met, Homura. So, how did things go? Did you manage to capture the love of your life?"

The raven haired girl flushed at the woman's choice of words, but she answered honestly. "It...went well," She said. Junko raised her eyebrows. "We're...we're together now." It sent a strange rush through her to say that.

The businesswoman laughed and clapped her hands together once. "Well, congratulations! I knew you had it in you." She reached over and offered her hand, and Homura shook it after a moment's hesitation. Then she turned her attention to Kiku. "And who's this? Don't tell me your other friend wasn't enough for you?"

"No, no," Homura said blandly. Junko Kaname was one of the few people who could get away with blatantly making fun of her. "Just someone I know. Kiku, this is Junko Kaname. We're...acquaintances, I suppose."

The brunette bowed shyly. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Junko said nodding. "Look, the reason why I suddenly jumped in on your little conversation was because I heard something rather interesting."

Kiku reddened. "You were listening?"

"My lips are sealed," The woman said, winking slyly. "But I couldn't help overhearing your little monologue about your personal fantasy, of sorts. And, well, I just might be able to help you with that."

Homura raised a skeptical eyebrow, but the brunette's irises alighted, and she leaned forward eagerly. "Really?"

"Probably," The businesswoman amended. Then her eyes focused on Homura. "But I need to be alone with her to say anything further. Akemi-san, do you mind?"

Homura sighed, sidling out of her seat. "Please make it brief," She said. "I have a kitchen to clean."

"Of course you do," Junko acknowledged. Homura waved to both of them and went outside the cafe to wait, taking her coffee with her. She didn't want to waste it.

Outside, it was surprisingly balmy. The frigid tinge that had been prevalent in the air for so long was finally beginning to recede, as the very beginnings of spring began to pry open winter's icy grip. Soon the cherry blossoms would be in bloom again, and this year Homura would actually have the time to watch them fall. Maybe she would needle Kyouko to take her on a walk, once they had the time.

She was sure they would have the time.

Leaning against the reflective glass of the cafe, she took another sip out of her synthetic coffee, tapping out a soundless beat, the contented rhythm of a silent melody.

* * *

><p><strong>I have this kind of headcanon where Homura and Kiku are sort of bros, since even people who are in happy relationships need normal friends to hang out with. Maybe they could be that to each other?<strong>

**Also I really hope Mami isn't canonically lesbian or something (which I doubt) because that would be pretty embarrassing.**

**Finally, what do you guys think about this turning M rated for one chapter, sometime in the future?**

**Tell me what you think, and thanks for reading!**

**~Banshee**


	26. The Catalyst

Chapter 26: The Catalyst

Junko and Kiku both emerged from the cafe of their own accord some time later, the older woman giving the illusionist a gentle squeeze on the shoulder. Homura watched them as they passed through the door; Junko looked quite pleased with herself, but Kiku seemed to be in a daze, and it was obvious that something important was racing through her mind.

"It was very nice talking with you, Hanezawa-san," The business woman said, offering her hand to the girl. "Feel free to contact me when you've made your decision." The brunette nodded absently and reciprocated the handshake. Nodding once to herself, Junko rose and approached Homura, who eyed her with more than a little confusion.

"Glad we could catch up," She said, exchanging another handshake with the shield user. "I'm happy that things worked out for you. And while I'd to stick around and hear all the juicy details, I've got to head back home. Tatsuya needs me right now."

"Of course," Homura murmured, bowing her head. Junko waved casually back and hailed a cab, disappearing beyond the horizon soon after. The time traveler watched her go for a while before turning back to face Kiku, who was staring at the sidewalk with a blank expression on her face. "Kiku?"

"Huh?" The illusionist started, jerking her head up.

Homura sighed, flicking a stray lock of hair behind her. "Nothing. But you seem spaced out," She observed. "What did Kaname-san want to speak to you about?"

"She..." Her voice trailed off again, but Homura's impatient expression prompted her to gather her thoughts. "She offered me a cafe."

"...What?"

"Well, not literally," Kiku amended, still tongue tied. She tucked her hair behind her ear, apparently still grappling with the facts herself. "She said that there's an abandoned building on the border of the Residential District that her company owns. Or, more specifically, they own the land it sits on. There used to be some kind of postage office there, but it went out of business months ago. Junko's been trying to sell the place for ages, but for some reason she failed to find any buyers. The plot is cheap, at least for a spot in Mitakihara, and the building is in decent condition..."

Homura rolled that around in her head for a while before realizing what it meant. "So you're saying..."

"...If I were to hypothetically buy the plot through her, my fantasy might become a reality," Kiku finished.

"That's good news, isn't it?" Homura asked, taking in the older girl's expression. "You don't seem very excited."

"No, I am," Kiku replied quickly, picking at the hem of her pants. "But it's just crazy, you know? It don't know the first thing about buying land, or starting a business, actually. Don't you need some kind of credential for that? Not to mention that it's a lot of money, even with the discount...I don't even know what Mami will think about all this."

_That much is true,_ Homura though privately, as Kiku continued to mutter incoherencies to herself. She considered herself to be more adept at finances than the illusionist, but even she was vague on the requirements one needed to meet before opening a cafe, or anything of the sort. Then again, she doubted that Junko would make Kiku an offer that was impossible to follow up on. As mysterious as the woman could be, Homura knew that she was good at her job. And a good businesswoman didn't make unnecessary investments.

"I'll have to think about it," Kiku sighed, shaking her head. "I'll have to take it up with Mami too, actually."

"Be careful while you do that," Homura said, as she attempted to hail their own cab.

The brunette looked up at her. "Why?"

"She isn't used to doing things on your terms."

* * *

><p>"Tomoe-san, are you listening?"<p>

The administrator's voice snapped the blonde out of her labyrinth-like reverie, and the girl fluttered her long eyelashes for a moment before refocusing on the older man. Mind chugging backwards, she briefly reviewed the portion of her conscious that had been keeping track of their conversation and replayed it, as the administrator tapped his tablet impatiently, awaiting her response.

"I'm sorry, Takanashi-sensei. I'll try to put more thought into it," She muttered at last.

The administrator sighed and dropped his tablet onto a desk, with the blonde's graduation pathway plan clearly displayed on the little pneumatic screen. She saw her own solemn, gently smiling face gazing back at her, along with most of her personal information listed en mass to the side. It was a massive clutter of information, but there was one glaring blank spot, and it was the region where she was supposed to write what her plans were upon graduation.

"I'm not trying to put undue pressure on you or anything," Her teacher admonished, as Mami bowed her head in acknowledgement. "You've been a model student up until your stint in the hospital, and even upon your return you've mostly produced consistent results. But that's why this worries me, Tomoe-san. Someone who has achieved so much after facing this many difficulties should be able to put together some kind of plan for the next five years. This isn't like you."

_No, I suppose it isn't,_ Mami thought through pursed lips. She had forgotten it during her long absence from institutionalized education, but she had established a sort of perfectionist reputation for herself over time. And while an image like that was fairly easy to meld herself into, it was difficult to pick up again after a respite. After all this time, she was beginning to fail to see the point. Her priorities had changed, somewhat, and not necessarily for the better.

"I'll think something up before graduation. I promise," She offered, bowing her head again. The teacher nodded in acceptance and switched off his tablet, Mami's personal profile vanishing in an engulfment of black. People were usually inclined to go easy on those who prostrated themselves with a humble attitude, and Mami had learned to effectively exploit this faucet of most people. Some individuals would only delight in seeing her bow, however, and it was of those people that she had to be the most wary.

Murmuring her polite farewells, Mami dipped out of the classroom and headed home.

The sun was in its transitional phase when she emerged into the outside, still burning defiantly in the sky, even as the daily cycle struggled to force it below the horizon. It made Mami wonder how the flaming star in the sky could fight the same battle every day without end, while seemingly lacking a particular cause. To her, the sun had no particular reason to exist. It simply _was_, and so it rose every morning, one of the few true constants that humanity had built itself around. Rise with the sun, and sleep while awaiting its return. She reflected that if she were to one day wake up and find that she was the sun, she may very well never rise again.

She took her usual path home, following the thin river that wound its way through the heart of Mitakihara and accompanied her through most of her journey. Sometimes small families brought their children out here and played carelessly on the banks, but today the grasslands were bare, and Mami was surrounded by nothing but the crystalline glow of the river and the deep red bowl above her. Today she would make the walk alone; she had told Kyouko to go on ahead without her, and she doubted that Homura had wanted to argue otherwise. She had texted Kiku to explain her tardiness before entering the office to speak with her administrator. Normally she would have hated having to walk home alone, but today was one of those instances where an anomaly manifested itself, and Mami welcomed the opportunity to think.

As irritable as she had been earlier, she knew that time was running short. She needed to choose some sort of career path, and soon; the daily life of high school students, though often perversely glorified and made to seem eternal, always came to an end. Mami thought about the numerous times her more naive friends had drawn life advice from the bevy of high school oriented anime and television available to them, and she herself had been a victim to their wishful fantasies on more than one occasion. But where were the animated slice of lives concerning the lives of adults? The struggles and their passions? The fact was that there were none, and in cases like this Mami supposed one would have to turn to an adult figure for guidance.

But she had very few of those, and the one she did have would never understand her well enough to offer sound advice.

Fatigue overcame her suddenly, like a jackal that had been hiding in the depths of the river. Stopping in her tracks, Mami heard the road's ravel crunch beneath her shoes and sighed. She abruptly felt worn, felt the need to sit down somewhere and contemplate.

_Is Homura rubbing off on me? _The blonde wondered to herself, as she turned and headed down the long sloping hills that led down to the river banks. After walking gingerly about for a moment in search of a clean patch of grass, she set her case down and sat cross legged by the running water. It was a little crude to sit that way, perhaps, but there was no one around to pressure her otherwise. Reaching down, she plucked a few pebbles off the ground and rolled them between her fingers.

It bothered her, really. For all her responsibility, Mami knew that she was ultimately more of a "point A to point B" personality. She climbed the mountain before worrying about the mountain range, and sometimes the slopes she found afterwards were too high too scale. She found it somewhat amusing that six months ago, the pinnacle of her concerns were making sure that Kiku stayed protected. Now that she had effectively achieved that goal, she found herself with only more problems.

She should be happy, shouldn't she? Angrily, she flicked one of the pebbles out of her hand. It skipped once across the surface of the river before plunging down to the bottom, the waves claiming the meal with greed. The terrible responsibility of being a magical girl had finally been lifted from her shoulders, and she could more or less guarantee the safety of her friends now. Kyouko was happy, Homura was happy, and Kiku seemed content. Then shouldn't she, but deductive reasoning, also be happy?

But no, she was not yet satisfied, because Mami's version of happiness constituted a world without problems. She saw nothing in her future but more of these problems. She most certainly wouldn't be attending college; even if she were to go ronin and somehow enter a decent institution, how would she be able to meet tuitions? Even the most modest universities in Mitakihara would make it almost impossible to live, even with her generous allowances, and leaving the city was absolutely out of the question. She was too ingrained here; her soul walked the corridors of this place. She couldn't leave.

Fine, a job then. A job doing what? She didn't have a particular set of skills. She supposed she was a decent cook, and could run a home better than most, but becoming something like a maid didn't appeal to her. A spot in the business world wasn't exactly a bad idea, but she knew nobody in the industry, and there were probably required credentials that she couldn't even dream of getting.

Mami's common sense told her that there had to be _some_ sort of job out there, one that fit her aspirations and could be held with her meager qualifications. But she had no idea, and that was where the problem lay; she didn't _know_. She was a blind man who had been struck deaf, and now she groped her way from day to day, hoping to hit pay dirt. Only perhaps the earth wasn't there, or it had been mined for all its valuables already.

She liked being reliable. Being what she was, Kiku would find it incredibly difficult to expand her horizons in the future. She had no identity in the real world, and her very existence had been erased from the annals of human memory. How could one make a fingerprint when she was a ghost?

No, it was up to her to make sure Kiku was cared for. At the very least, Mami had made sure that the brunette wasn't going anywhere.

Now she just had to keep it that way.

Sighing, Mami tossed the last of her pebbles in to the water, not even bothering to watch them sink. She knew what would happen to them. She had seen the scene enough times.

Picking up her case, she trudged her way up the slope.

* * *

><p>Though the eyes of the gods often focused on a different household, one where a girl of time and a girl of fury slept soundly together under the wings of mutual love, occasionally they shifted their glance to another room, one where synergy was almost nonexistent, and the smell of restraint was almost palpable.<p>

When Kiku opened her eyes, squinting when they met the shadow of the day, the first thing she saw was Mami's quietly sleeping face.

It gave her a confusing mix of emotions to see that face; adoration and derision both lit flames in her chest, and the result was a multicolored spray of fireworks that she could make no sense out of, or whether they were for celebration of mourning.

But then realized that the anomaly was pointless, because Mami would never allow her to bring fireworks into the house.

Closing her eyes, Kiku considered going back to sleep. It was the weekend, and even if it had been a weekday she had no obligations to speak of. The only difference to her was that Mami stayed home all day on weekends, and for that admittedly shallow reason, she preferred weekends. But temptation baited her eyes, and she opened them again, this time taking in Mami's expression with a little more poise.

The two of them slept on separate twin beds, but there was no space between the mattresses; they were squashed together so that one bed seamlessly melded into the next, creating one great, white expanse. Or perhaps it wasn't so seamless. Kiku could still see the deep black crack that distinguished one mattress from the other, and it yawned between them like a great chasm.

It was just an insignificant line, but she had never been able to cross it. Mami usually rolled unconsciously to the far side of her bed at night, but sometimes she shifted the other way, coming as close to the edge of her own bed without leaving it, and Kiku's breaths would come in short wafts as she lay curled on the edge of her own blankets, marveling at the fact that Mami's nose was no more than two inches from her own. The blonde kept her hair down when she was at home, and her golden locks were surprisingly long when they were let out of their ringlets, framing her pale face as she slumbered.

Kiku noticed that Mami always looked a little worried when she slept; the girl's eyebrows never ceased to bunch themselves, the motherly tilt of her lip never eased. But she found that to be attractive about the blonde as well; the fact that something was always on her mind, that she was always contemplating and worrying. It made the brunette feel safe, in a way. And she needed that. Sometimes Mami was more of a motherly figure to her than a friend.

Perhaps that was the issue.

The illusionist's eyes continued to roam, taking everything in while she could. This was the only time she could openly stare without receiving a gently questioning glance in return. The accursed blankets covered most things, but Kiku took in the smooth slope of Mami's shoulders, the pale skin left bare in her thin nightgown. The blonde slept on her side, and Kiku's irises lingered on the girl's lips, which fluttered with every latent breath, and the gentle curve of her chest.

Her fingers twitched lightly, breaking free of the loose fists she had curled them into before her chest. The sheets were cool where she hadn't slept on them, and they kissed her knuckles in response. The sensation was soothing, but it didn't satisfy her, not when something infinitely better lay gently snoring not a foot away.

Biting her lip, Kiku lifted her hand and reached out, sending her arm gingerly past the black chasm. Her fingers were just about to stroke Mami's sleeve when the blonde squinted and shifted in her sleep, moving herself just out of the brunette's reach.

Kiku stayed frozen like that for a moment, stunned, then retracted her hand.

Maybe another day.

"I wish you had woken me up a little earlier," Mami sighed, striding into the kitchen.

"It isn't my fault you forgot to set an alarm," Kiku quipped back, leaning back in her chair. The blonde rolled her eyes and started rummaging around in the cupboards, muttering incoherencies to herself.

Kiku glanced at her uncomfortably before looking away; Mami was still in that airy nightgown that did a terrible job of covering her up, and stretching to reach into the cupboards wasn't helping any. The brunette's eyes went wide when Mami lunged forward to pull out something particularly hard to reach, and she was treated to a thrilling expanse of leg and a bit of the region beyond. Her breath caught in her throat, but Mami bounced back down and the view was quickly terminated. Kiku didn't know whether to feel disappointed or relieved.

"You could put some of these ingredients back in the correct order, you know," The blonde suddenly sighed, examining the labels on various cans she had procured.

_Then stop wearing clothes that make me horny in the morning!_ Kiku thought furiously. One strap of Mami's gown was hanging free from her shoulder, and the anticipation was killing the brunette. But Mami reached up and tugged the strap back up a moment later, and this time the illusionist was candidly disappointed.

Shaking her head, Mami filled a pot with water and had it start boiling on the stove. She filled another two glasses and brought them over to the table while she waited, taking a seat across from Kiku. The stove's flames burned lowly beside them, giving off thin waves of heat.

The blonde exhaled slowly and took a deep draw from her cup, crossing her legs casually underneath the table. Kiku's eyes flicked downwards to observe the movement through the clear glass surface, and for a moment she considered just as casually asking if Mami was going commando under that nightgown. After all, the amount of skin Mami had unintentionally exposed earlier gave her ample cause for suspicion. Her common sense won out, however, and she bit her tongue in self reprobation. Mami was unlikely to respond well to such an inquiry, and there was always the chance that the blonde wouldn't even know what going commando meant.

And Kiku didn't feel particularly inclined to explain that to her.

Mami finished her glass of water with a pronounced sigh and set it down on the table, leaning forward on her elbows afterwards. Kiku felt her blasted eyes drifting downwards again, though they didn't go as far down as they had last time, now focusing an a different region entirely. Hell. She had heard the rumors at school, but...

"Anything in particular you want to eat today?" The blonde's voice asked her through muffled mental screens.

"Melons," Kiku muttered, eyes still glued.

Mami blinked. "What?"

"Nothing," Kiku lied smoothly. She had gotten rather good at that lately. Circumstances had necessitated it.

Mami frowned and sat up straight in her chair, reaching up to run her fingers through her mane of golden hair. Kiku almost hated herself for being drawn to the way those locks gave way to those slender fingers. Shit, why did everything about her have to be so damn _distracting_? Everything, from the way she always made eyes contact when speaking, to the way she licked her lips once in a while, to the way she bit her _fucking thumb while thinking._ Kiku had never thought herself a fanatic, but god were those teeth sparkly clean. She found clean teeth _very_ attractive, so of course Mami had to have them!

It occurred to her then that she was actually getting visibly angry over this, and she had to suppress the urge to laugh. Was this how far she had fallen? Was she really going to succumb to the terrors of sexual frustration?

"So, Takanshi-sensei's been badgering me to fill out my five year plan lately," Mami sighed.

Kiku snorted and drank deeply from her cup. "Yeah, I remember him. He never graded my essays fairly. Always scored below an ninety percent in that damn class."

Mami frowned. "Watch your language, Kiku. It's improper."

"It's practically the twenty second century, Mami. Can't you lighten up a little?"

"Some values don't change, regardless of time," The blonde replied blandly, leaning forward again to press her point. Her stern look was both cowing and endearing.

Kiku smiled and leaned forward herself, craning her neck upwards until her nose was an inch from Mami's. "Care to name a few?" She asked lowly, fluttering her eyelashes at the blonde.

Mami went momentarily cross-eyed as she focused on the middle of Kiku's face, but then she sighed. "Like how you still forget to brush your teeth in the morning," She scolded, using one elegant finger to gently push the brunette's face aside. "How many times must I lament the horrors of your morning breath?" She continued, rising out of her chair and walking back to the stove.

The illusionist pouted, her disappointment only minor. For a moment she thought she had Mami with her approach, but instead it was chalked up as yet another failed attempt. It wasn't as if she was new to the experience. "Fine. I'll go brush my damn teeth," She humphed, pushing herself off the table and padding off with attitude.

"I told you to watch your mouth!" Mami complained, but the girl was already closing the door behind her.

Once she had her privacy, Kiku slipped into the bathroom and struck the light switch. Her squinted briefly as the lightbulbs around her roared silently to life, and her chocolate brown irises slowly began to take in the reflection in the mirror. She stayed like that for a minute or two, quietly raking her eyes down her own body, searching for any glaring or obvious flaws. She ran her fingers through her hair; she reached down and pinched her bare thighs, poked at her stomach, slapped gently at her cheeks. What was it in this reflection that Mami didn't find attractive?

But then she sighed and thought that no, this probably wasn't the reason. She didn't think herself particularly vain, nor did she want to be, but she did haver confidence in her physicality. Even the humblest of pretty girls knew they were pretty, and Kiku was no exception.

Yet this was one of those rare cases where having a nice face didn't count for much. She had gone through much of her life by relying on her charm and agreeable personality, but they weren't the answer to everything. The two examples that came to the forefront of her mind were Mami and her parents; though they represented very different emotions to her, they nonetheless presented her with the same problem. For all the boys she could charm, for all the adults that favored her respectful disposition, she could not attain through the same means what she most desired; the love of those closest to her. Beneath that face, she didn't see much.

She just wasn't _special_.

Reaching out, she stroked her lightly tanned skin through the glass, and her reflection flinched in response. What set her apart from other people? No matter how hard she wracked her conscious, she could produce no sound answer. Attractive physiques were a dime a dozen if one knew where to look. Besides being that nice girl down the block, there was nothing else to her. Yeah, maybe she was a magical girl who had been to the edge of death and beyond, but she couldn't really put that on a resume. Besides, Mami wouldn't find that particularly interesting.

_Is that why she likes Kyouko so much?_ Kiku wondered. _Is there really no one else like her?_ She closed her eyes and though about it, and realized that there really weren't. Abrasive personalities were not exactly rare, but the redhead's particular brand of honestly, bravery, and strength truly was something unique. She then supposed that the girl's partner, the venerable Homura, was equally special. Two wholly distinctive individuals.

Was Mami special? Well, she was special to _her_, but was she really special, in her own right?

It came to her attention that she couldn't answer that question herself, as any response would have been biased.

_Why do I love you, then?_ She mused, plucking her toothbrush from its holder and running it under the sink. _What draws a blank slate like me to you? _As she pondered, she turned the brush slowly in the streaming water, soaking the bristles thoroughly.

Kiku figured that there had to be a reason. She had always regarded with some suspicion those people who would simple shrug and say "Just because," when they were asked the same question about their lovers. A response as noncommittal as that didn't belong in the same region as human emotion, in her opinion. For there to be an effect, there had to be a cause. Was it not a necessary construct, in this best of all possible worlds?

It was surprisingly easy for her to figure it out, as she pasted her toothbrush and began scrubbing vigorously at her mouth. Growing up, her parents had probably done their best for her, but they had failed to make her feel validated, important. That was part of what had motivated her to become so socially outgoing, because a human had to get their adoration from somewhere, and the love of her peers was the only available substitute for the warmth her mother had held back from her. Yet it was never a worthy replacement, and Kiku had always felt a little cynical towards people who were nice to her, always assuming that they had some sort of ulterior motive.

Until she met Mami.

The blonde had been the first person at school to treat her candidly; there were no stuttered lines, none of the stupid shameful blushes that the boys in her class seemed to enjoy making so much, not even a hint of peevishness or self consciousness. She had simply walked up to Kiku's lunch spot atop the hill and asked if they might eat together, with all the confidence in the world.

The brunette had stared skeptically at her for a while. Then she asked how the blonde would react if she were to refuse.

Mami simply smiled and told her that that would be just fine, as it was ultimately Kiku's choice.

Such a meaningless response was worlds to her, and Kiku finally accepted. Everyone else had treated her with some sort of entitlement, as if she were somehow obligated to be kind to others in return for their own kindness. But Mami had graciously given her the opportunity to be callous, to be selfish and uncompromising, and ironically that had made Kiku do the very opposite.

Afterwards, at least for a time, there were no ulterior motives.

Of course, that assumption eventually turned out to be untrue. Mami would always talk to her during school after that day, but they never saw each other otherwise. That was all she did, just talk with her, never asking for anything more. Kiku had found that strangely endearing, because it truly seemed that the blonde didn't want anything from her but her company. And that was true, to an extent, but she had had no idea how vital her company was the Mami's psyche. She had unknowingly spent three years being the girl's mental anchor, blissfully unaware.

But during that time, the seeds of affection were effectively lain. There were plenty of superficial reasons to love Mami; she was kind, responsible, beautiful, and mature. She was infallibly considerate and almost never chose to argue with her. But there was something deeper than that, a side of the blonde that Kiku hadn't had the privilege to see until after she contracted. Mami was always willing to go as far as she had to; even if it meant pushing her soul to the breaking point, she would do it.

There was something particularly fascinating about that, and Kiku had been fully awed when Mami saved her from Famira's killing blow. Petty arguments, philosophical differences; they were nothing in the face of her determination. To be in the presence of such raw _intent_, and to know that at least a little bit of it was meant only for her, was more than a little appealing to her romantic inclinations. To put it simply, Mami possessed pure iotas of confidence that Kiku herself would never truly have. It was ironic that she was the more outgoing one, when Mami was the truly confident one.

Sometimes she didn't regret becoming a magical girl, because it had allowed her to learn all these things. She was willing to pay such a price to know about such a large part of the blonde's life.

And for these reasons and many others, she loved Mami.

Regardless, their relationship had always progressed on Mami's own terms. Kiku was rarely successful in initiating their conversations at school, and soon she became content with simply waiting for the blonde to approach her instead. It wasn't as if she were kept waiting, after all. Mami always came back to her. But the blonde was always the pilot, always the one in control. She chose where their ship was to sail, and Kiku could only lean over the railing and stare down from the deck, wondering where the sea would take them.

The first time something significant had occurred between them without Mami's planning, it had almost destroyed them. It was certainly not the plan for Kiku to discover the blonde's secret and become a puella magi herself, and this unexpected development had been so detrimental that she had been forced to hide behind the guise of Saki for a while, and even afterwards there was a sense of distrust between them. This had faded just recently, but Kiku had been reminded how fragile their relationship really was, how tenuous and fickle their emotions were.

Baring her teeth in distaste, Kiku leaned over and spat into the sink. She turned on the faucet again and watched the foamy paste drain down the pipes, and stooped to gargle. Come to think of it, she still hadn't told Mami about Junko's proposal. It was stupid, it really was, but some part of her feared that the blonde would disapprove. It wasn't _Mami's_ idea, after all. It was _hers_, or Junko's, or whoever's. Mami always had to be in control, always had to be progressing toward her personal utopia, or the consequences could be...distasteful.

That was the real tragedy, she thought, as she rinsed her mouth clean and reached out for the towel. At least on the outside, Mami was so pure, so impossibly _perfect,_ that a less optimistic person had to think that there must be something terribly evil beneath the skin. But even at a medium level, Mami was not evil; she was a genuinely good person, with the best of intentions.

Her only flaw, really, was that she could never accept anyone's opinion but her own. It was a flaw without neighbors, but it was monstrous enough all on its own; it was why Kiku still struggled with her unrequited feelings, why she always felt a craving for something _more_, and why the thought of her cafe fantasy still squatted at the back of her mind, slowly decaying as it waited for the sunlight.

Rubbing at her mouth, she exhaled loudly and racked the towel.

Tossing her toothbrush back into its holder, she slipped out of the bathroom.

* * *

><p>"That sure took you a while," Mami murmured when Kiku emerged from their room, eyes glued to the screen of her laptop.<p>

The brunette flashed her pearly whites proudly. "Wanted to make sure they met your standards."

The blonde hummed in response, and silence enveloped them.

Deciding she didn't like this, Kiku padded over and sat next to Mami on the couch, plopping down onto the giving cushions. Mami scooted over to make room for her, but Kiku largely preempted her by leaning against the blonde's shoulder. The move drew a disapproving frown, but Mami did not say anything, slowly relaxing as Kiku closed her eyes and tried to discreetly inhale the blonde's scent.

"Look," Kiku said, eyes still closed. "There's something I wanted to tell you about. Someone made me a proposal the other day..."

There was no response, and Kiku looked up impatiently, only find that Mami was still absorbed by whatever she was doing.

"Hm? Oh, I'm sorry. Could you say that again?" The older girl murmured, still scrolling.

Kiku pouted and craned her neck to look at the computer screen. "What are you doing that's so important?"

"Checking job listings," Mami replied, clicking on a seemingly random link. "Takanashi-sensei isn't going to be lenient forever, and he's right anyways. I need some way to support the two of us. My parent's fund is vast, but it won't last forever. And I have my pride."

"Oh," Kiku echoed, her intended topic of conversation deflating. "What kind of jobs?" She asked, though there was little actual curiosity in the question.

"Mostly business related things," Mami said, typing on her keyboard. "I don't have the qualifications to do something more particular, so I'll have to start general. I'm sure someone out there needs a reliable secretary, or something."

"Oh," Kiku just said again, settling for quietly watching Mami scroll through various job listings. There were a ton of them, describing occupations across the board, but a vast majority of them required some sort of college degree or special skill. But Mami dutifully searched, bookmarking the ones that seemed within her reach, and within the hour she had compiled around a dozen job opportunities, as Kiku's heart sank with each one that got added to the list.

"I guess we can start with these," Mami said, sounding pleased with herself.

The brunette leaned over and observed the list. "Do you plan to be a secretary forever?"

The blonde shrugged, and Kiku's heart stopped when their sides rubbed against each other. "I have to start somewhere. Maybe some day I'll branch out into something else. But at the very least, joining a stable company is probably best for security...it's infinitely safer than starting my own business, at least."

"...Yeah," Kiku agreed, thinking that she never should have taken Homura to that particular cafe. "Listen, do you want to take a walk? Sakura trees are finally blooming."

"Maybe later," Mami murmured. "I need to go through all these."

"Okay," The brunette said, slipping off the couch. A few minutes later, she was slipping out the front door in light winter wear, as Mami sang out a brief farewell that she did not return.

It was still chilly when she stepped outside, but her breath no longer fogged. Spring would be coming soon. She hoped it would bring good things with it.

As she trudged away from the apartment, Kiku reflected that Mami had been the one to find her, to guide them both to where they were now. She supposed that, if she were to become closer with the blonde, Mami would have to allow it herself.

Mami was always in control, after all.

Exhaling slowly, she headed for the sakura trees, pulling out her phone and dialing a number.

* * *

><p>Homura's bed was empty again, but this time it was her own fault.<p>

She hauled herself up to a sitting position, realizing that she must have overslept. She vaguely remembered coming home from school yesterday with a killer headache, and had hastily thrown off her overclothes before falling into the bed. She didn't recall much after that.

Well, at least it was still the weekend.

Grunting and stretching her arms above her head, she was about to stand up when a driving pain split her skull; she groaned and sat back down instead, hunching over to clutch at her cranium. God, it was like she was suffering from the worst hangover of all time. Her head pounded as if another heart had been shoved inside her head to share space with her brain. Her eyes hurt the most in particular, thrumming with sharp spikes of pain like some sort of twisted melody.

Hell. What was _wrong_ with her? She had been willing to call it a migraine and be done with it, but common sense told her that this was not the correct diagnosis. Though brief aches and pains sometimes cropped up, her internal magic would always correct the problem eventually. It had been a month now since the affliction had begun, and it only showed signs of worsening.

Stumbling to her feet, Homura staggered into the bathroom and flicked the lights on. The sudden illumination blinded her and made her want to scream, but she bit her tongue. Getting as close to the mirror as she could, she forced herself to peel her eyelids back and stared at her own bloodshot eyeballs, scanning desperately for some sort of obvious problem, perhaps an injury of some sort. But there were none, and aside from a little redness from sleep her eyes seemed to be perfectly normal. But they obviously _weren't_, because her damn head still felt like it was being crushed underneath an airplane's tires.

Groaning in agony, she slapped the lights off and fell out of the bathroom. Think. She had to think. She wasn't about to try and get through the day with this kind of pain riding on her back. Magic...her magic was supposed to heal all injuries, internal and external, but that wasn't happening. So the issue was something beyond magic's control. But such a thing didn't exist, as far as her knowledge went.

The problem, then, had to do with her magic itself.

Eyes. The pain was strongest in the eyes. A wild hypothesis came to her, and she shut her eyes as tight as she could. If her magic was to blame, she could only think of one place where she was still actively using it; her eyes. She had had terrible vision before her contracting, but after waking up in the hospital bed so long ago she had possessed near perfect sight. This was obviously the product of her magic, so perhaps she could reverse the effect.

Delving deep inside her soul, Homura focused on where her energies were being distributed, carefully combing through everything she found. Her soul seemed to be almost completely dormant, as it should be when she wasn't in combat form, but something caught her attention; a single, glowing string of energy, feeding a steady supply of magic to one specific area of her body.

Hesitating but a moment, she severed it.

The first thing she felt was the pain draining away; oh, Goddess above, there was no greater sensation on the earth. Homura moaned loudly and fell against the wall, crumpling to the floor in sheer relief as she felt her nerves finally settling down from the spasms that had seized it but moments ago. A minute later she felt perfectly fine, and she quietly listened to her heartbeat return to its regular pulse.

Inhaling deeply, she opened her eyes.

Blurry...she couldn't see a damn thing. A thick film seemed to have descended upon her field of vision, and she could no longer tell the precise details of what she looked at. Everything had instead become a multicolored blob that she vaguely recognized, as the shapes were still vaguely the same, but could not be distinguished. Blinking rapidly, she rubbed at her face, but the film did not abate.

No, of course it wouldn't. She had made it this way.

Homura sat against the wall for a while, thinking about what had just happened. The incredible pain she had woken up with was nothing like the bouts that had struck her before. She had managed to escape it for now, but the memory of the agony was still very fresh, very present in her mind. Homura was naturally averse to feeling pain, but what scared her more was that she didn't know where it was coming from. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with her; so what was it? She had on idea, and that scared her more than anything.

Drawing up her knees and pressing her forehead against them, Homura reached up and clawed at her hair.

_What is wrong with me?_

But she didn't despair for long. It wasn't part of her nature. Looking up, she resolved to solve her first problem. That would be her vision. Forcing herself to stand up, she walked gingerly to her desk and began rummaging through its contents, squinting closely at everything she fished out until she discovered a worn case. Popping the lid open, she observed what lay inside.

It had been a long time since she had last seen these glasses. The smooth, blood red frames glinted back at her, as if winking in greeting. _Long time no see_, they seemed to tell her, and Homura couldn't help frowning as she plucked them out of the case and slowly slipped them onto her face.

Thankfully, her vision sharpened immediately. A portion of her mind sighed in relief, as some irrational, animalistic part of her had feared being effectively blind forever. But no, she was fine now. The glasses felt odd and clunky on her face, and she was reminded of the fact that her nose was much too small to be wearing glasses in the first place, but she disregarded all of that. She could see now, and that was the important thing.

Walking over to the mirror, she slowly turned her head from left to right. What she saw displeased her; the childish red frames might have suited her when she was a first-year with pig tails, but she felt they were out of place, now that her hair framed her face and she had matured some. Returning to the desk, she looked around for another minute until she produced a second pair of glasses, a set of dark, square frames that looked more mature by comparison. Padding back over to the mirror, she tried them on instead.

They looked...better. The frames were a more sophisticated black, and they looked less random on her face. Squinting to find a comfortable position for them, Homura reached up and pushed them against her nose. She looked like some recently employed secretary, which she supposed wasn't a bad thing. She had never considered using lenses as a sort of fashion statement, but if they happened to look good on her, that was fine.

Sighing tiredly, she was about to head downstairs when the door opened.

"Homura, how long are you gonna slee-" Kyouko stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the shield user standing in the middle of the room. "What the...how..."

Homura shifted uncomfortably, waiting for the redhead to comment on her frames. She didn't know if she would be completely honest if Kyouko demanded an explanation, so she prayed the girl simply wouldn't ask.

"Did I...happen to tell you about my glasses fetish too?" Kyouko finished breathlessly, and Homura stared at her.

"...How many damn fetishes do you have?" The time traveler muttered, crossing her arms.

The redhead shook her head. "I don't know," She said earnest. "But so far, you've got all of them."

Homura blushed as Kyouko closed the distance between them, keeping very still as her girlfriend reached out to lightly touch the corner of her glasses. "But why the sudden change? I thought your vision was perfect?" The redhead asked, her crimson eyes fixed on Homura's face. They looked...vaguely hungry.

"I was expending magic on it. I thought it would be economical to switch back," She said smoothly. It wasn't a complete lie, if you thought about it.

"Mmmn," Kyouko agreed, though she didn't seem to be listening. "Not your red ones?"

"They looked childish on me," Homura replied. Kyouko spotted the discarded frames on the desk and walked over, picking them up and turning them over in her hands. Then, after a moment's consideration, she slipped them onto her face.

"Ugh. Wow," She muttered, squinting. Her eyes twitched and adjusted behind the lenses, and Homura couldn't help but laugh at how uncomfortable the redhead looked. "Jeez, Homura. You're blind as a bat."

"Well, sorry," Homura snorted. She privately thought that the red frames looked quite good on Kyouko, as they matched her hair, and for some reason fangs went very nicely with a pair of lenses. Kyouko stuck her hands out in front of her and stumbled in Homura's general direction with a disorientation that was probably exaggerated, but the time traveler smirked nonetheless.

The redhead reached out and grabbed her by the shoulders, eyes still spinning dizzyingly. "I don't know how you glasses people live like this," She muttered, holding Homura tighter as she attempted to steady herself.

The shield user rolled her eyes and brought her hands up between them, reaching up to lift the glasses off of Kyouko's nose. "It is a very particular skill we posses," She murmured, before leaning in and giving the redhead a chaste kiss. The girl started in surprise, but Homura let go of the glasses a moment later, the lenses coming down on the redhead's nose with a painful _clunk._ Homura laughed as Kyouko yelped and rubbed at her nose, turning to open the door with a smirk on her face.

Her victory was short lived, however, as she suddenly felt her hands being pinned against the door, and a moment later Kyouko's weight was keeping her trapped against it.

"Just when did you become such a goddamn tease?" The redhead asked huskily, speaking directly into Homura's ear. The shorter girl shivered when a puff of warm breath tickled the side of her face. Kyouko wasn't exactly crushing her, but she was exerting enough force to let Homura know that she wouldn't be going anywhere. The thought made her shiver again.

"I learn quickly," Homura snarked back, turning her head to the side to speak. Kyouko snorted and moved her arms, and suddenly Homura's wrists were held together above her head by one hand. Kyouko used the other to trace a long, long line from the time traveler's shoulder all the way down to her hip, and Homura squirmed all the while, though her pride kept her from uttering anything.

"While I do appreciate that," Kyouko whispered, "You already know that I prefer to be the dominant one."

Her will was wavering, and she knew it. Kyouko had gone into this battle knowing that she would emerge victorious, and the realization made Homura's knees wobble. "M-Maybe you should earn it, then," She muttered back.

"Mnn...you think?" Kyouko asked innocently, tracing her nose along the shell of Homura's ear. The time traveler gasped softly and her neck jumped, and beneath her fingers Kyouko felt the shield user's pulse speed up. Frowning, Kyouko repeated the same process, though this time she used her tongue, gently touching the warm tip against Homura's ear lobe.

The raven haired girl groaned and arced her back, even though there was no room for her to move. "K-Kyouko-"

The aforementioned girl grinned widely and kissed Homura's lobe, earning another sharp "Nnn!" from the normally stoic Homura. "What's the matter, Hom? Are you weak here?" Without waiting for a response, she closed her lips around the end of one ear and sucked gently, using her tongue to tease the little tab of flesh she held between her teeth.

Homura released a raw moan and pressed her temple against the cool wood of the door, baring her teeth so that it looked like she was trying to bite the door. "Wha...what do you _think_?" She hissed, though her voice petered out into a ragged breath at the end. Kyouko simply laughed throatily and drew her hand up the length of Homura's leg, all the while peppering the area on and around the girl's ear with wet kisses.

The shield user keened and exhaled loudly, and Kyouko's pride soared. Yes, _this_ was what she loved. To have Homura, who was always scolding her, always reprimanding her, reduced to a mewling mess. Privately, she filed this newest discovery away in her mind for further analysis. Homura wasn't the only one compiling data, now. Ears, neck, collarbone; these were a few of the places where the time traveler liked it best, and it gave Kyouko great pride to know this.

Tilting her head slightly, she slipped Homura's earlobe between her incisors, nibbling gently on the pliant flesh, as if she intended to pierce it. The girl whined and clawed at the door, fighting against Kyouko's grip in an attempt to get at the redhead herself.

What was more, Homura liked getting bitten, though she would never admit it herself. But Kyouko knew.

She knew because the girl never complained about the little bite marks she would leave sometimes.

Homura continued to squirm beneath her, and Kyouko finally relented, releasing her grip on the time traveler's wrists. The girl turned around and pulled her close almost immediately, and the redhead was more than happy to oblige. They kissed with no regard for delicacy, going after each other's weak spots with the most criminal of intents. Their glasses clicked and pressed against each other as they pressed against each other, making Homura feel feverish.

They were both a little short on breath, however, and they separated soon after. Homura sucked in deep breaths and struggled to keep herself from crying out again; Kyouko had one leg between hers, and every time they embraced their hips pressed deliciously close to each other. She didn't know if she had the discipline necessary to control herself beyond that.

Reaching out, she twisted Kyouko's collar in her fist, holding the redhead there until she could regain her breath.

Just then, the phone started ringing.

"Don't answer that." It was a warning, but Homura was unfazed. Craning her neck, she tried to read the caller ID, which Kyouko took as an opportunity to start kissing her there, too.

"It's Kiku," Homura murmured, wiggling one hand free. "It might be important."

"Or maybe not," Kyouko argued, looking up at the time traveler. Homura's chest throbbed when she looked into those eyes, and the pure ambition that resided there, and for a moment she was tempted to ignore the call and dive back into what they had been doing. But the phone rang shrilly again, and she knew that Kiku rarely called, if ever. It was most likely about something important.

"I'm going to answer it," She said bluntly, reaching for the receiver. Kyouko sighed and relaxed her gaze, resting her had against Homura's chest.

"Fine."

Picking up the receiver, she accepted the call and pressed it against her ear. Then she frowned and switched to the other side. Her right ear was still a little...not dry. Plus it still buzzed. "Hello?"

_"__Homura? Hey!"_ The illusionist's voice rang clearly from the other end of the line. Kyouko was close enough to hear it as well, and she curled her fists up against Homura's belly, which she let pass without mention. _"How are you doing?"_

"I'm fine, thanks," Homura replied neutrally. She might as well make this brief, for Kyouko's sake. "Was there something you needed?"

_"__Oh right!" _There was an embarrassed laugh from the receiver, and Kyouko snorted softly. _"I actually needed to ask you for a little favor Homura. Maybe a little help between friends. What do you say?"_

"Depends on what it is," She replied. Even Kyouko looked up curiously.

_"__It's about what Junko told me about,"_ Kiku said, sounding timid. _"To be honest, I don't know the first thing about any of this business stuff...so I was wondering if you could do some research for me. I don't really have a computer of my own, plus I've never been that great at digging up information. I figured having you explain it to me would be more efficient."_

_Research?_ Homura thought, as Kyouko furrowed her brows in confusion. She only knew slightly more than Kiku did, but she supposed she was more suited to gather information than the brunette was. "Sure," She agreed, adjusting her grip on the receiver. "I can do that."

_"__Really? Thanks, Homura!"_ Kiku sounded unnecessarily happy, but she paid no mind. _"I'll repay you somehow, someday. Though I don't really know how..."_

"If you can manage to get through Mami's thick head, I'll be satisfied," Homura said bemusedly.

Kiku laughed over the line. _"Tell me about it...thanks again, Homura. Really."_

"No problem."

_"__Oh, I've got to go. We'll talk later. Mwah!"_

Kyouko flinched at the sound of Kiku apparently kissing her own phone, and the call was terminated. Homura blinked, slightly shocked herself, but she rolled her eyes and dismissed it as a faucet of the girl's personality. The redhead looked less than pleased, however, and she glared at the phone as Homura placed it back on its stand.

"What were you guys talking about?" She asked.

"It's...kind of a long story," Homura admitted. Kyouko just frowned at her.

"So...are you two like, good friends now?" The redhead muttered, obviously bothered by the thought.

Homura was about to respond when the phone rang again.

"God damn it," Kyouko swore, as the shield user pursed her lips and answered the call.

"Hello...?"

_"__Hey, Homura. You busy today?"_ It was Mishki this time, sounding chipper.

The time traveler sighed, feeling another favor incoming. "Not particularly. Why?"

_"__I...kind of need you to watch the twins for a few hours," _The guide said. _"I said I was trying to find a job somewhere, and a few of my old connections hooked me up with an interview. It's today, but I can't really leave these two alone at home for that long..."_

Homura held the receiver away from her head and looked down at Kyouko, who was now jumping with excitement. "Say yes! Say yes!" The redhead insisted, poking Homura vigorously to advance her point. She rolled her eyes and lifted the receiver again.

"Sure thing, Mishki. We can watch them for a bit." Kyouko silently cheered.

_"__Really? Great! I'll be over in a bit."_

* * *

><p>"Nice place you got here," The guide said, sliding slowly into the apartment.<p>

"Please. It's old," Homura said, leading the woman to her living room. It occurred to her that Mishki had never visited her home before. Well, another milestone reached.

The twins yelled in delight when they spotted Kyouko, and left Mishki to run for the redhead's legs. The spear user laughed and squatted to ruffle their bushy heads, greeting them in a language Homura didn't quite understand.

"Would you like a drink before you go?" Homura asked.

Mishki checked her watch before answering. "Sure. I've got a little time," She said. The woman was dressed formally for what felt like the first time, and the getup made her look more her actual age. Homura found the sight a little disconcerting.

"I'll get it," Kyouko volunteered, heading off towards the kitchen. Homura nodded and went to retrieve her laptop instead, setting the computer atop the coffee table.

"So, what kind of job are you being interviewed for?" Homura asked, slowly booting up her computer.

"Uhh..." Mishki reached into her pocket and fished out a small business card. "Not sure, actually. A friend told me these guys needed someone to help out around the office, plus maybe learn the ropes over time. Could turn into a full fledged job at some point." She squinted at the card. "Someone named Junko Kaname?"

Homura, who had been typing, stopped abruptly. "Excuse me?"

"You know her?"

"Yes," The shield user said, chewing on the thought before resuming her typing. "The world is indeed a small place."

"Sure doesn't feel that way."

The door was pushed open, and Kyouko traipsed in with the twins in tow, a tray of green tea in hand. "Here you go," She offered, handing a cup to Mishki. The guide graciously accepted it and took a deep gulp.

"Whatchu doin'?" Kyouko asked, leaning over Homura's shoulder.

"Researching," She said, shifting uncomfortably. Kyouko was a little close, and Mishki was staring. She didn't mind losing a little control when they were in private, but having other people around still cowed her. "Kiku said she needed a little help with something."

"Oh," Kyouko agreed, suddenly uninterested. "I'll go put this away." She waved the tray in the air before disappearing again.

Mishki gazed amusedly at the door before shifting her gaze back to Homura. "You know," She said, "You could afford to be a little more considerate of Kyouko."

Homura glanced at her. "What do you mean?"

"You mentioned Kiku right in front of her. She was obviously jealous."

Homura frowned and continued typing, eyes tracking across the screen. "Kyouko doesn't get jealous."

"Really?" Mishki said drily, and something in her tone made Homura look up again. Thinking back, she recalled all the times she had mentioned the brunette around the house. Kyouko hadn't seemed particularly delighted during any of those times, but jealousy...for what reason? It wasn't like she was going anywhere.

"Doesn't seem very logical to me." She went back to her research.

"I would agree with you," Mishki allowed, finishing the rest of her drink. "But remember, Homura, that Kyouko has lost a lot of important people in her life. Her mother, father and sister, the adoration of the church members...oh, don't look at me like that. Someone like me doesn't live in Kazamino without learning the story somewhere."

Homura frowned at her, taking her hands off the keyboard. She gazed at the small column of steam rising from her own cup. "And your point is?"

"Someone who's been through all that is very tough to get close to," Mishki continued. "You know that more than anyone. Kyouko's armor is almost impregnable when it comes to people; I've seen it firsthand. But even more than that, Homura, a person who guards their heart so closely gives it all back when they do decide to open up. What I'm saying, essentially, is that people like Kyouko tend to be rather...possessive."

Homura stared at her keyboard, unsure of what to say, or if she were somehow to blame for this.

Mishki smiled. "Just a word to the wise," She said simply. Then she rose from her seat. "I've got to run. I'll see you later, hopefully employed."

"Good luck," Homura said, earnestly.

"Thanks." The guide was about to turn away when she paused, sniffing the air.

"What's wrong?"

Mishki frowned, then shook her head. "Nothing," She said.

"Just smells like magic in here."

* * *

><p>Homura had just seen Mishki off at the door when she heard a loud crashing sound from the kitchen.<p>

When she hurried over, she saw Four crying loudly next to the shattered ruins of a coffee mug, the splintered shards of ceramic scattering across the tiles. Kyouko was trying desperately to calm the child down, but to no avail. The tears just kept coming, and Five watched nervously from the corner, unsure of how to take the situation.

"Did she drop something?" Homura asked, walking gingerly over to the broken mug.

"Yeah. Knocked it over while they were running around," Kyouko murmured. Leaning forward, she gently wiped the tears away from Four's cheeks. "Come on, buddy. It's no big deal. Homura hates that mug, anyway. No harm." The child sniffled, nose still running, but seemed to make a concerted effort to stem the flow of tears. Kyouko smiled approvingly and ruffled the kid's hair, before standing up and ushering both twins out of the kitchen.

"Don't want them to cut themselves on the shards," Kyouko said. "I'll go calm them down; do you mind cleaning up?"

"Sure," Homura said, and Kyouko vanished through the door.

She turned and surveyed the damage. She was going to need the dustpan for this; she didn't feel safe about touching all that ceramic with her bare hands. Turning, she stepped carefully past the shards and went into the closet, digging around for the right equipment.

It was for this reason that she failed to notice Four, who had eluded Kyouko's gaze and decided to trot back into the kitchen, approaching the shattered remains of the mug with a vague sense of wonder. Reaching down, the twin picked up what was left of the cup.

"There," Homura muttered, locating the dustpan at last. "Now to-"

Her monologue was cut short when there was a blinding flash of light behind her, and a deep _boom_ rumbled through the walls of the house. Homura flinched and stumbled backwards, falling to the ground as throwing her arms above her head, assuming an earthquake. The tremor faded almost instantaneously, however, and Homura stumbled to her feet, running towards the back of the kitchen, where the quake had originated.

"Homura! Four? Are you guys okay?" Kyouko shouted, sprinting towards the kitchen. Throwing the door aside, she burst through and looked around wildly, fearing the worst.

What she saw didn't exactly meet her expectations.

All she saw was Four, the innocent twin bawling loudly again, rivulets of fat tears streaking down the sides of her face. The walls around her were blackened with soot, and the floor smoldered.

And in front of her, lay the mug.

Clean, unbroken, just as it had been before.

* * *

><p><strong>Almost didn't update today, but I managed to stay on schedule. I'm hoping to conclude this story by the beginning of June, but that's probably a little too ambitious. We'll see. I won't be home for most of the summer, and I'd hate to leave long gaps between updates again.<strong>

**Tell me what you guys think about Kiku and Mami's relationship, and the twins. Your thoughts are always appreciated.**

**And since most people seem to want an M rated chapter, I'll work it into the story. The plot will be unchanged either way. I might even write more than one, but if I ever do, I would make it into a side story of some sort. But that's something else entirely.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Banshee**


	27. When You're Alone

Chapter 27: When You're Alone

Mishki turned the mug over in her deft fingers, examining every detail she could discern; they were few and far between, however, and she set it back down on the table with a pronounced huff.

"And you said Four did this?" She asked, biting her thumb.

Homura, who was sitting on the couch across from the guide, nodded in confirmation. "She knocked it over when she was running through the kitchen," She said. "I got them both out and went to look for a dustpan, but in the meantime she went back and...well, I don't really know what it was she did. But the mug wasn't broken anymore."

Mishki pressed her fist against her mouth, staring deeply into the mug. A thick silence enveloped both of them, as Homura watched the woman and awaited her hypothesis. She had a few ideas of her own, but she didn't want to advance any of them until Mishki had spoken her own mind. She knew that the woman considered the twins to be like her children.

The twins themselves were seated on a third couch with Kyouko, each one flanking the redhead on both sides. Four looked to on the verge of tears again; she wasn't bawling anymore, but she was intuitive enough to know that the adults in the room were talking about her. Her young mind didn't know what the subject matter was, however, and it could only assume that she was in some sort of trouble. The girl sniffled and instinctively sought the protection of Kyouko's sleeve.

"Well, I think we can all conclude that this is magic," Mishki said aloud, picking up the mug again. "Broken cups don't just shatter and come back together of their own accord." She turned and stared at Four, who squirmed under Mishki's gaze. "Four, come here," She coaxed, holding out her arms. Easily disarmed by the loving gesture, the child hopped off of the couch and walked over. Mishki left her own chair and knelt in front of her.

Reaching out, she lifted Four's hand. The small, almost diminutive emerald ring fixed around the girl's finger seemed no different than it usually did, and the child stared as Mishki continued to examine her Soul Gem.

"Miki-chan?" She asked, sounding doubtful again.

"Thank you," Mishki said softly, patting her on the head. "Go back to Kyouko, now. Run along." Four nodded obediently and ran back to the couch, where the redhead was patiently waiting for her. Taking her seat again, Mishki resumed speaking.

"Her Soul Gem doesn't seem to be any different than before," She professed. "But then again, I don't recall mine being altered in any way after I contracted...but her powers have been dormant for so long. What could have caused them to awaken now?"

Homura stretched one hand out and took the mug herself, turning it over to scrutinize it for the dozenth time. The kitchen down the hall was still covered in a fine layer of black soot, but she didn't fell particularly compelled to clean it up right this instant. She had scrubbed layers of chocolate off those walls not too long ago, after all. It could wait; this mystery demanded her attention.

"I don't know," The shield user murmured, flipping the cup over and poring over its base. "We talked to Four before you got back, and she has no answers. I don't think she understands, herself. She would only say that she felt badly for breaking the mug, and wanted to make it up to me."

"And I'm assuming Five knows just as much as her sister?"

Homura nodded. Mishki exhaled slowly, her eyes wandering. They rested on Homura's glasses and frowned. "Did you wear contacts before?"

"Sort of," She replied absentmindedly, too absorbed to bother explaining. Reaching up, she pushed the slipping lenses back up her nose. It was a habit she would have to pick up again. "Thought I'd try them out."

"They look nice."

"Thank you."

The time traveler continued running her thumb over the base of the mug, feeling its smooth, unmarred surface.

But wait, that didn't make sense.

Frowning, she looked closer; indeed, the cup was indeed flawless. There had been a small dent in the bottom rim before, where she had dropped it once while doing the dishes. But that chip was now restored, as if the dent had never even been there. Further investigation revealed that the rest of the cup lacked the shallow scratches it had accumulated over the years; even that one spot where she always put her thumb looked like it had been freshly painted, rather than worn as it should have been.

"What sort of magic is this, anyway?" Mishki muttered, tapping her finger on the table. "Restorative magic? I mean, the mug went back to the way it was, right? Unless it has something to do with reversing time..."

"Not precisely," Homura murmured, leaning forward. "Look here," She said, pointing at the base. "It was chipped here before I even met you or the twins, but now it's completely flawless. Four didn't just fix the cup; she _renewed_ it."

Mishki's eyes went wide, then she shook her head. "I can't believe it," She said, clasping her hands together. She looked tired. "They were completely normal for so long, and for a while I thought it would stay that way forever. But I should have known that things always change."

The time traveler gazed at her sympathetically; magic was a massive part of her own personality, but for all the change it had brought to her life, she still regarded it as a mostly negative entity. It was a harmful, twisted construct; really, the only thing that kept her from outright hating it was the fact that it had allowed her to meet Kyouko.

Homura reached out and placed her hand over the guide's, drawing a grateful look from the older girl. She didn't know much about comforting people, but this was the best she could do. "Do you..." She paused for a moment, then decided to finish. "Do you want to try testing it?"

She had hoped for a more agreeable response, but Mishki shook her head and rose from the table. "I don't want to think about it right now," She said. "Besides, those two have no need to master their powers any time soon. We came to Mitakihara for that very purpose, after all. Testing their abilities would defeat that purpose. I want them to live a normal life."

Homura nodded graciously and rose from the table, signaling to Kyouko that they were ready to go home. Mishki was the one to make the decision, ultimately. And if she didn't want to bother, then none of them would. For the most part, Homura supported the decision. Magic on its own had never brought any good to their lives.

But there was a small part of her, the portion of her soul imbued with strands of curiosity, that nudged at her mind. The thought that as evil as it could be, magic was a vital part of them all, and that ignoring the more inhuman sides of the twins might prove to be more than detrimental.

But she said nothing, and moved to see Mishki off.

"By the way, how did your interview go?" Homura asked at the door. With the tense atmosphere of the past half hour, she had almost forgotten to ask.

Mishki visibly brightened, and she raised one triumphant fist. "Got the job," She said proudly, thumping said fist to her chest. "Almost thought I was going to turn into a bug, those guys were so intimidating. But Kaname-san was the nicest one among them, and I survived, somehow."

"Congratulations!" Homura said, genuinely surprised. Though she had no doubts about Mishki's intelligence, she had been admittedly doubtful when it came to how qualified the guide was for any sort of job. She knew almost nothing of the girl's past, after all, or the mysterious connections that had hooked her up with the interview to begin with.

"Thanks," Mishki laughed, rubbing at the back of her head. She looked so much younger when she smiled. "It's gonna be a long road working up from there, but I've got time. Who knows, maybe one day I'll be the boss."

Homura smirked, a little mirth rising to the surface. "You might need some big heels if you want to match Junko's aura."

Mishki scoffed and lightly jabbed the shield user, who chuckled softly at her reaction. "Oh, please. Not you too. It's bad enough that Kiku goes on drunken rages about my apparent youth...how is she, by the way?"

"Kiku?" Homura paused, realizing that a flippant answer would have been less than appropriate. She looked off into the distance and thought about the question for a moment, then said, "She's...fine, I suppose. Holding up at the very least. But you know how it is. It can't be easy living like that, dead to the world, having to change her face when she goes out."

"And Mami," Mishki added.

"Yeah," Homura echoed. "And Mami."

The guide's phone buzzed then, and she started before pulling the offending piece of machinery out of her pocket. "Oh, jeez," She muttered, checking the caller ID. "It's from the office. I'm going to head off now, Homura. And about Kiku...if she needs someone to confide in, I expect you to be there for her."

Homura rolled her eyes, waving her arm at the woman. "She already does, Mishki. I promise."

"And spray something around your house already!" Mishki hollered from the other side of the street, the twins following closely behind her. "It still reeks of magic!"

_What the hell is that supposed to mean?_ Homura thought irritably, closing the door behind her.

* * *

><p>Outside, it was a world of subdued pink. There was a small road that branched off from the small parks that dotted Mitakihara, one that wound off into a remote area of the city where the light pollution was minimal and the smog almost nonexistent. Sakura trees lined both sides of this dirt path as far as the eye could see, so that at the height of day it looked like someone had taken the universe's saturation level and dialed it all the way up. It was a spot popular to young couples and those seeking the affections of another, or those who simply wanted a quiet moment to themselves.<p>

Homura, however, mostly preferred to visit the Sakura Meadow in the evening. It was cooler then, and the incandescent couples which she had found so pesky in the past had mostly sidled on home to enjoy their love elsewhere. The cherry blossoms looked less vibrant than they did at noon, but she found that the brightness only hurt her eyes. She much rather preferred the mellow blue-pink of the petals as night approached, and she found that they were even more beautiful when cast under a lesser light, in a more subtle way. Destined couples in books and fairy tales were always meeting each other for the first time under a whirlwind of pink, and so it made Homura wonder if longtime lovers would part under the subdued glow of an evening in the Meadow.

This wasn't why she had brought Kyouko here this evening, of course, but the thought still crossed her mind.

"Sakura sure look different in the evening," Kyouko murmured, staring up at the swaths of muted pink above them. Her head was resting lightly on Homura's lap, and the time traveler absentmindedly played with the redhead's hair as she contemplated some mysterious topic.

They were both underneath a significantly sized sakura tree some ways off from the main path; Homura normally would have been satisfied with securing a bench somewhere, but she didn't want to be seen by any passerby. So she had taken Kyouko gently by the hand and led them off the road, wandering among the ethereal trees until she found a spot that satisfied her. They had sat shoulder to shoulder at first, but the redhead had slowly grown drowsy before laying head on the time traveler's lap, quietly chewing a long stalk of grass.

"They're prettier this way," Homura said at last, twining a strand of red around her finger. Reaching out, she caught a fluttering pink petal and turned it over in her hand, absorbing its features. "Look at you, Kyouko. You're quite a bit different from all these other Sakuras, aren't you?"

The redhead laughed and hit her lightly on the stomach. "And that's why I'm your favorite, right?" She said it playfully, just like she always did, but her voice trailed off soon after and she fell silent, chewing almost angrily on her grass stalk.

Homura said nothing, instead stroking the girl's hair some more as she waited. When it came to explaining herself, Kyouko needed to move at her own pace. She understood that. So she contented herself with observing the dense forest around them, thinking that the skies appeared to be shedding some sort of exotic rain. The petals looked both pink and blue beneath the dying light. Homura wondered if this was their true appearance, if the vibrant colors of the afternoon were but an illusion, a farce.

"Four is gonna be fine, right?" Kyouko said at last, mumbling the question.

Homura closed her eyes and smiled wanly to herself. Of course that was it. She had figured as much.

"Four is a magical girl, just like the rest of us," She replied. "I always thought it was only a matter of time before she started exhibiting powers too. She'll be fine, Kyouko...I think it's just their age that makes us all so uneasy. You're never old enough to be thrown into the world of magic."

Kyouko just pursed her lips and kept chewing at her stalk, almost slicing through the tube of green with her fangs. Then she sighed and pulled it out of her mouth, holding the stalk between her fingers as she seemed to search for more words to say. Sometimes thoughts and ideas alighted to her tongue like birds to a branch; it was on those days that Kyouko was happiest, because she knew that it meant she was content. But when the words seemed to evade her, when her tongue became a wanderer searching a desert devoid of expression, she knew there were things to desire.

The only problems was that she often didn't know what she wanted, despite the impressions she gave off.

Finally, she tossed the stalk aside. The wind caught it and spirited it away, and soon the little piece of grass was hidden from view. Kyouko exhaled loudly again and crossed her arms over her stomach, as Homura continued to quietly wait, with that ever standing patience that she admired and envied so much. She thought that this must be why she liked Homura so much; in many ways, the girl was everything she couldn't be.

"I don't know," Kyouko muttered at last. "I just feel like things have been off lately. Not just the thing with Four. I'm worried about them, but that isn't all of it...Mami's been stressed lately too. I can sense it whenever we talk at school, but she hasn't decided to tell me yet. And it isn't as if she'd say if I asked."

Homura hummed in response. "She's been trying to find a job lately, if I remember correctly. Kiku said something about that earlier." Kyouko bit her lip at the mention of the brunette, and Homura pursed her own in response.

"There you go again," She scolded, tapping the redhead's cheek with a fingertip. "Getting all cross whenever I mention Kiku. Do you really hate her that much?"

Kyouko frowned and turned her head slightly away, staring off into the deepening night. "No," She said. "We don't see eye to eye, but I don't hate her. I've just noticed that you two spend a lot of time together, is all."

"And you would do well to remember," Homura chastised, "That it is primarily due to your influence that I've become more sociable. Besides, I feel that she needs a confidant. Her relationship with Mami is...less than healthy."

"How is that going, by the way?" Kyouko asked blandly. She said it with a profound lack of actual interest, and Homura figured the question was rhetorical, but she answered it anyway.

"Not very well. Mami seems to be completely oblivious to her advances."

Kyouko snorted and lifted her head from Homura's lap, shifting around on the grass until she could lean against the trunk of the sakura tree. "It's going to take more than a little flirting to catch Mami's attention. Her interests are probably above that. And I don't want to rain on Kiku's parade, but I really doubt that Mami swings that way."

Homura laughed drily. "Yes, that would make things rather difficult." Reaching up, she pushed irritably at her glasses; they kept sloping down her nose. Kyouko caught the movement and leaned over, peering curiously at the black lenses.

"Why did you suddenly decided to wear those, anyway?" The redhead asked, leaning in closer. Homura blinked and compensated, reaching up to adjust her lenses again as she squinted at the girl. "You never complained about your eyes taking up magic before."

"I-I guess I never noticed," Homura murmured, looking away. She didn't want to tell Kyouko the real reason; that she had awoken with a crushing headache she couldn't explain, and that these glasses were the only way for her to escape the excrutiating pain.

Kyouko frowned doubtfully, and Homura felt a small seed of guilt sprouting in her chest. She didn't like having to lie. "Look, this point might be moot, but..." She paused for a moment before continuing. "You've been getting weird headaches out of nowhere for a while. And you keep waking up in the middle of the night, and tossing and turning...are you sure they're just migraines? Shouldn't you be able to recover from those quickly? Are you sure it isn't something more serious?"

Homura stared into those concerned red eyes, and for a moment considering telling the truth. She knew that they were not just ordinary headaches; there was something profoundly wrong with her, and it was something terrifyingly unexplainable. Homura didn't know how serious this potential problem of hers actually was, but where if there was magic involved that there was a good chance it could be significant. She didn't have to be a logically oriented person to know that it was stupid to hide such a potentially dangerous development from people, especially Kyouko.

But at the same time...she was afraid. She was afraid because she didn't want to lose the life she had now. It was certainly far from perfect, but compared to the endless nights of hunting demons and trying to keep her Soul Gem from combusting, it was like living in a dream. Homura had long since concluded that the less magic she had in her life, the happier she would be. And admitting that she had a problem, acknowledging the fact that perhaps not all her trials had been conquered, would be reentering the world she had worked so hard to leave behind forever.

As impractical as it was, she didn't want that. She needed to preserve her own little utopia, no matter what the cost.

She supposed she was a lot like Mami, in that regard.

"No, Kyouko," Homura sighed, reaching up and taking the girl's face in her hands. "I'm fine. I promise." Leaning back, she let her weight take her down to the grass, pulling Kyouko along with her. The redhead stuck her hands out and broke her fall, then stared wondrously at the raven haired girl beneath her, reaching up to take hold of the hand that was pressed against her cheek.

"Really?" Kyouko asked one final time. The wind slipped between her locks, and Homura was momentarily fascinated by them. They almost coaxed the truth out of her.

"Yeah," Homura said, pulling Kyouko down for a distracting kiss.

"I'm fine."

* * *

><p>A week later, she woke up sick.<p>

Homura knew it the moment she opened her tired eyes to the world; her whole body felt like it was one giant bruise, and she shivered as her nerves attempted to flinch away from themselves. Pulling her hand out of the sheets, she pressed the back of her hand against her forehead.

Searing hot. Her skull was a furnace.

The time traveler cursed softly under her breath, and the muttered words stirred Kyouko from her sleep.

"Nnng...Homura?" The redhead croaked, pushing herself up groggily. "What's the matter?"

"I..." The word came out slurred and sticky; her throat felt swollen beyond measure. "...I think I'm sick," She managed to wheeze at last, somehow throwing the sentence out past her fattened tongue.

Kyouko snapped awake immediately, and she leaned over to feel Homura's forehead, then flinched back. "Hell, you're burning up," She muttered, rubbing at her wrist. "How does the rest of you feel?"

Homura rolled the question around in her head for a while, then answered, "Alright...I guess." It was complete and total lie, though. Her limbs felt like they had been beaten to a pulp by a cudgel.

"Are you thirsty?" Kyouko asked her, and when Homura nodded the redhead slipped out of bed. The time traveler shivered when the girl's warm body left her side. "I'll go get you some water," She said, slipping out through the door. The sound of padding footsteps faded away down the stairs, and soon enough Homura was left only to her own thoughts.

Something caught in her throat, and Homura coughed quietly to herself, pressing her fist against her mouth to stifle the bout. Grunting something noncommittal, her eyes fell to the glittering amethyst that lay in the ring around her finger. Frowning, she brought her hand above her face and glared at the miniature representation of her soul. The light that usually flickered strongly within the stone's crystalline depths felt...weaker, somehow. Like a flame in a room that was having the oxygen slowly pumped out of it.

Sighing, she let her hand drop back down to the bed. There was no point in staring at the gem; it wasn't as if she had any answers to the questions that such a sight presented. Shivering from something other than cold, she closed her eyes, which seemed to be burning from dryness. The time traveler rubbed languidly at her closed eyelids as the door opened again, and Kyouko padded back into the room.

"Here, sit up," The redhead said gently, slipping her hand underneath Homura's back. The shield user obliged, albeit begrudgingly, because every movement made her muscles moan in soreness. She held her tongue, however, and managed to avoid grunting as she was propped up against the pillows.

Kyouko handed her a large glass of water, along with a small pill. Homura frowned at the small, brightly colored capsule; it wasn't one of the painkillers she ordinarily took, and after some thought it occurred to her that it was a medicine for severe colds. She hadn't taken one of these in years.

"What's the matter? Want me to give it to you directly?" Kyouko teased, sticking her tongue out and waggling it around suggestively. Homura offered her a weak smile before popping the pill, swallowing it in one gulp. She exhaled slowly, feeling the capsule make its way down her esophagus.

"What day is it today?" She asked softly, for fear of stressing her throat. Kyouko took the water and set it on the bedside table before responding.

"Monday. You picked the best time to get sick, Homura. I envy you. Now you get to skip the worst day of the week."

The time traveler frowned, picking at the edge of the blankets. "What makes you think I'm skipping school?"

"What makes you think you're going?" Kyouko asked with equal blandness, running her fingers through her tangled locks. "You're sick as a dog, Homura. I can tell. Just look at yourself."

Blinking, Homura turned and stared at her reflection in a mirror at the far side of the room. She almost didn't recognized the girl who gazed back at her; eyes bloodshot, lips chapped, hair a tangled mess. She looked like hell, and felt like it too.

Smiling sympathetically, Kyouko reached out and squeezed the shield user's hand. "Stay home today, Homura. I won't have you walking around when you're like this. Doctor's orders."

Homura snorted in disbelief, her last act of defiance. "I want to see your credentials."

"I have none," Kyouko said regretfully, then laughed when Homura rolled her eyes. It petered out quickly, however, and the same concerned expression crossed the redhead's face. Homura hated that face; it was the one where her eyebrows came together, like birds in a time of crisis. She hated seeing that face because it meant that Kyouko wasn't happy, and by extension, she wasn't either.

Slipping one hand out, she gently pinched the redhead's chin. "Don't worry. I said I was fine, remember?"

Kyouko caught the time traveler's wrist in a surprisingly strong grip, then relaxed. She pressed her lips against Homura's knuckles, sighing against the skin. "Are you sure? Magical girls don't just wake up with colds..."

"I'm fine," Homura insisted, with a little more strength this time. Kyouko looked up and locked eyes with her, and she did her best to stare confidently back, if not stubbornly. Finally, the redhead sighed and released Homura's hand, taking the warmth with it. It made the time traveler's heart ache to lose that warmth, but she held her tongue as Kyouko rose from her seat and made to leave the room.

"I'll come home early to check on you," She called over her shoulder.

Homura nodded. "Okay."

"And you're eating porridge for dinner. No exceptions."

"...Okay."

Kyouko nodded affirmatively and pulled the door open, but paused right before closing it behind her. "Take care of yourself," She murmured. "I..."

Homura blinked, awaiting the rest of the sentence. But the redhead blushed and closed the door behind her instead.

"Never mind. Get some rest."

And she did try to rest. Really, she did. Homura actually laid back down in the bed and slumbered for a good hour after Kyouko left the house, if only to escape the throbbing aches that gripped her body like an army of malicious snakes. When she woke up she felt a little better, but took some more medicine anyway. Homura doubted she could overdose on over-the-counter antibiotics, being what she was.

Though her body didn't seem to be following the rules lately.

Homura did her best to occupy herself throughout the day. She eventually remembered that her vision was impaired now and slipped her glasses back on, fluttering her eyelids a bit to adjust to the anti-stigmatism. She picked up a random book and read that for a while, but her head started hurting, so she couldn't do that anymore. Sighing with a defeated air, the time traveler set the thick novel aside and settled for staring out the window instead, and listening to the birds chirp their daily melodies outside. She closed her eyes and tried to discern any particular patterns or meaning to their song, but found none. Her head throbbed again, and she stopped trying to speak bird.

It was a beautiful day outside, or at least it appeared to be; Homura had only the small square of sky she could see through the window to judge with. The situation reminded her too much of her days in the hospital; never allowed to leave the bed, always confined to her little reserved room in the corner of the building, constantly hooked up to machines that became her solitary companions. She had stared through the window then too, and had wondered what things the world held, or whether she would be allowed to partake in them. And as she squinted at the azure sky today, she thought that she had been allow to partake, but not in the way she had imagined. The field with which she had expertise was the stagnant, the bad side of life; the side filled with never ending struggles and despair.

Though as of late, she had been getting to see the more positive aspects, the better side of life. Homura hadn't ever thought that one's existence could be divided specifically into pure "good" or "bad"...rather, she felt that the human experience was an intermixing of both. But if she were forced to categorize, she would label the past few months as "good." The shield user had never dreamed of what her ideal world was, during the dark days. What was the point, when such a vision could never be achieved?

But now things were different, and Homura found herself adding to her own personal fantasies with every passing day. Waking up to the comforting scent of Kyouko's hair every morning, trying to keep up in school, answering the questions that the future provided her...they were all the incarnations of bliss to her. Perhaps it was a little different from what she might have expected from herself; she had never thought that a simple life, filled with the few people she cared for, would be her aesthetic. But it was the truth, and as time passed she had bred within herself the desire to protect this life, this small seedling of good that had sprouted after years of rainless harvests.

But now Death and Misfortune, with their twin scythes, were scouring the land in search of her small sprout, seeking to uproot it. Homura didn't know why she sitting in bed with a debilitating cold, or why she was suddenly wearing glasses again; to be rather frank, she didn't _want_ to know. But there was a feeling, deep, dark, foreboding feeling, that it was a sign of bad times. To her, acknowledging the problem would only increase its legitimacy; accepting the fact that she was a magical girl had never helped her, after all.

So she would run, she would hide; she would wait and pray that this was only a passing ailment, that in time all would be well. Madoka had asked her to do just that when she ascended to the level of a deity, and Homura felt that the same method would bear fruit now.

She was reminded somewhat of Kiku and her own fantasy, the idyllic cafe situation where she and Mami would always be together. It was an incredibly vanilla setting, and more than a little cliche, but it was a dream nonetheless. Homura thought that unlike herself, the brunette had acknowledge her own problem; that was, Mami's apparent obliviousness. But it didn't seem to have helped at all, and Kiku was still on the outside looking in.

_Is this how you feel, Mami?_ Homura wondered, raising her aching neck to stare out the window again. _Is this what it's like, always having to defend your utopia?_ Regardless, she considered the girl to be a fool under certain circumstances. Her only fear was that she may one day become just as foolish, if not more so.

So here she was, bedridden as if she had a heart condition again, but not the same girl as she had been then. She supposed that Homura now was more mature than Homura then. This version of her had been through so much more, that was for sure. But there was something else on top of that, some sort of disillusionment with life that hadn't been there before. Homura knew that cynicism was inherent among magical girls, but it was still a fact that she mourned. There was a certain beauty to blissful ignorance.

It occurred to her then that Kyouko was currently ignorant of her condition, to some extent. She would protect Kyouko's bliss, then. If Homura could help it, the redhead would never need to worry about this again.

Almost as if to spite her, the shield user's veins throbbed painfully.

Homura was about to go to sleep again when a voice tickled at the edge of her consciousness.

[_Hey, Homura? You there?_]

Pausing, Homura sat up in her bed. [..._Kiku?_]

[_Hey,_] The illusionist's friendly tone infused the shield user's mind. [_Mami told me you were feeling under the weather, so I came to check up on you. Mind letting me in?_]

[_The key is under the doormat,_] Homura replied, stifling a yawn.

* * *

><p>A minute later, Kiku pushed the door aside and poked her head in, sweeping her chocolate brown eyes across the room until they alighted on the ragged looking girl in the bed.<p>

"You've looked better," She said needlessly, entering the bedroom completely. She closed the door quietly behind her, for which Homura was glad; her head was hurting again, and loud noises spiked the pain.

"So I've heard," Homura rasped back. Kiku laughed drily.

Striding across the floor, the illusionist pulled up a chair by the bedside. She unshouldered her bag and set it between her feet, rummaging about inside until she procured a small array of items. Homura watched her quietly, content with speaking as little as humanly possible. She would have used telepathy as a substitute, but the brief mental conversation she had held earlier made her feel strangely woozy.

"I didn't know if you had any cloths in your house, and I didn't want to waste time looking for any either," Kiku said, setting a small bowl onto the bedside table. She unscrewed a bottle of water and dumped its contents into the bowl, before pulling out a small cloth and soaking it in the liquid. Homura watched her with a little skepticism, knowing that the water was most likely at room temperature, but withheld comment. It was the thought that counted, she supposed.

A moment later, the illusionist wrung the cloth thoroughly and spread it out. Instead of placing it over the time traveler's head, however, she closed her eyes and murmured a brief word first. Homura's stomach clenched when she felt the distinct pull of magic being used in the room, but it was gone in an instant. Kiku smiled to herself and draped the cloth over the younger girl's head; Homura almost flinched when she found that it was steaming hot.

"It isn't actually that warm," Kiku said, smiling knowingly at Homura's expression. "Just a little mirage I came up with. Should help a bit."

Homura frowned and picked at the corners of the cloth. "I appreciate it, but...what's the point if it isn't actually hot?" She would have said more, but she was consumed by a coughing fit immediately afterwards.

Kiku shrugged, keeping her hands in her lap. "What's the point of using remedies developed by ordinary people? It's just for the placebo effect, really. You don't have to use it."

"No," Homura murmured, lowering her hand. "I'll use it. Thank you."

So even the illusionist knew. Even the most inexperienced one among them knew that finding a magical girl bedridden by sickness was virtually unprecedented. For a moment, she doubted her ability to downplay the severity of her ailments in front of Kyouko. The redhead might be a little airheaded, but she was no fool.

She shifted her eyes to Kiku's, half expecting the brunette to ask her own prodding questions, but none were forthcoming. The girl simply smiled at her, a knowing expression that told her, _I know. I know, but I won't ask. It's up to you._

Homura's heart blossomed with appreciation.

"I'm surprised Kyouko was willing to leave you alone in this state," Kiku observed. "She seems the protective type."

The shield user smirked weakly. "She is. But I convinced her otherwise."

Kiku eyed her. "You didn't lie to her, did you?"

Homura bit her lip, unwilling to reply. The illusionist just sighed.

"Look, I'm not going to say anything," She said, folding her hands in her lap. "You're obviously mature enough to make your own decisions...but don't do anything too rash, okay? Consider it a word from a friend."

The time traveler forced a smile, curling the sheets between her fingers. "I'm fine, Kiku. Don't worry." The illusionist looked at her a little doubtfully, but otherwise said nothing, as per her promise. "That reminds me," Homura murmured, lifting her head slightly. "I've got something for you."

Kiku blinked. "For me?"

The younger girl pointed at her desk, gesturing towards one of the small compartments. "Look in there. Top stack." Kiku stood and walked over to the desk, picking through its contents until she came up with a small manilla folder filled with various volumes of paper. She brought it back and attempted to hand it over to Homura, but the girl simply pushed it back.

"It's for you, silly," The shield user rolled her eyes. "You asked me to do some research, didn't you?"

The illusionist blinked in confusion, then the memory dawned on her. Sitting down quickly, she pulled open the folder and began to flip through its contents. Homura watched the brunette as she thumbed through the various sources and informational hubs she had listed, as well as basic summaries of numerous topics that revolved around starting one's own business. Homura had set aside a small number of hours in dedication to this small project. Kiku pored over all of it for what felt like several minutes, when it reality it was just two. Homura half closed her eyes and was about to doze off again when the girl gently closed the manilla.

She turned her head. The delighted smile had slipped off of Kiku's face, and she instead looked desolate and lost, holding the folder in her hands as it was a fortune in the currency of a now nonexistent country. Feeling the time traveler's eyes on her, the brunette forced a smile, slowly setting the manilla on the bedside table, beside the bowl of water. Reaching out, she grasped Homura's hand.

"Thanks, Homura," She said, sounding genuine. "I really appreciate it. I didn't expect you to compile so much information for me..."

Homura looked back at her, still tired but curious enough to fight it. "But?" She prompted.

Kiku bit her lip and gripped Homura's hand a little tighter. She looked almost as lost as the day they had met. "But...I'm afraid all of this might just be a waste."

The shield user narrowed her eyes. "Why?"

The illusionist chuckled humorlessly to herself. She let go of her hand and settled back into the seat, squeezing her knees so that her knuckles turned white. Homura waited patiently, leaving the decision to talk up to the older girl; she was just returning the favor. It was the least she could do.

"I...I don't know. I haven't been able to talk to Mami about this at all," Kiku blurted out. When Homura simply raised an eyebrow, she went on. "She's been trying to find a job, like I told you. Her inheritance could last a while yet, but you know Mami. Always so proactive...she has barely enough credentials to her name to qualify for most positions, but in spite of that she's been trying so hard...she went to three interviews yesterday! And for me to just shove all that aside and say, 'hey, let's start a cafe together'...well, it just feels kind of selfish."

Homura closed her eyes and leaned back into her pillow, wondering if she could go far enough so that the fabric would consume her whole. She had been afraid of this. The thought had occurred to her as she surfed the web in search of all that information, but she had dismissed it on numerous occasions.

In her mind's eye, Kiku was a closet soldier, by which she meant the illusionist was only brave underneath the guise of obscurity, not unlike a masked vigilante. She actually _had_ been a masked vigilante of sorts. The character named Saki whom Kiku had created enabled her to do so much, even lie to the girl she loved, just to preserve what little happiness they had left. But ordinary Kiku, everyday, smiling Kiku, was much weaker. This version was the one who failed to openly question Mami's strange habits for so many years, until the brunette was forced to learn the truth in the worst way imaginable. This was the girl who squashed her own feelings rather than embracing them, even as the object of her affections slept not a foot away from her, blissfully ignorant.

It was the same girl who was failing to pursue an opportunity for a better personal future, all in the name of selflessness.

"You know, Kiku," Homura said aloud, drawing the girl's attention, "They say opposites attract, and to some extent that is rather true. But it is by no means an absolute. I don't believe that one party must be continually selfless as the other does what it pleases. I believe that both sides are entitled to a little selfishness, on occasion."

The brunette lowered her head, fidgeting slightly on her chair. "But you said it yourself, didn't you?" She whispered. A strand of brown hair came loose from behind her ear, hanging between them like a life thread. "Mami isn't used to doing things on my terms."

"I know what I said," Homura said tiredly. The fatigue was coming back. "But if you think about it, she isn't used to doing things on _anyone's_ terms. She tries to take everything upon herself, for better or worse. Usually worse," She amended.

Frowning, Kiku peeled the damp cloth from Homura's forehead and dunked it in the bowl again. She drew it out soon after and wrung it, watching the thin columns of water return to its original state. "What are you trying to tell me?"

Homura closed her eyes as Kiku laid the cloth back over her, taking a moment to gather her feverish thoughts.

"Nature inaugurates change of its own accord," She murmured. "But it usually takes thousands of years, and even magical girls don't have that much time...what I'm saying, essentially, is that you must instigate. Nothing with change, unless you do. Mami will never see from your perspective unless you force her to look. If you can be so honest with me, you can be honest with her."

Her voice petered out after that, like a dying autumn wind. Kiku sat there and watched her for a while, and for a moment Homura wondered if she had said too much. But then the brunette smiled softly at her.

"Take this as you will," She laughed quietly, "But you and Mami are very much alike. Maybe that's why I've grown fond of you."

"You think so?" Homura asked, sounding disinterested. But she was far from it. She had had the same thought herself, on countless occasions.

"You're both...elevated, from my point of view," Kiku said, leaning forward on her knees. "Perhaps Mami is a bit more approachable, but you both look out for the people you care about. You both give sound advice. You both have a strong vision...I could go on."

The sky outside had darkened, but a cursory glance at the clock told her it was still the height of noon.

"And are we both selfish?" Homura murmured, keeping her eyes on the sky.

Kiku eyed the back of her head.

"The two of you are rather bad at relying on others," The illusionist said.

Homura smiled.

She heard Kiku poking through her bag again, and a second later something with mass hit the bedside table. Turning, the shield user saw a few small tea bags resting on the glossed wood.

"Mami's special anti-sickness brew," Kiku explained, waving one around in the air. "They're synthetic, to make them last longer, but I can vouch for their quality. Should help with any body aches."

Homura offered another smile, this time more genuine. "Thanks, Kiku."

"No problem," The brunette said graciously, rising from her seat. "I'll go home now; you need your rest." She made to leave through the door, but paused with her palm on the handle. "...Homura?"

The time traveler peeled her tired eyes open, looking expectantly at the illusionist's back.

"Just...don't try to do everything on your own, okay?" Kiku said, closing the door behind her.

"It's the only thing I don't like about Mami."

* * *

><p>For the most part, Homura considered herself a fast learner.<p>

She rarely repeated her mistakes; and if she did, it was usually due to factors beyond her control. All her countless failures within the myriad of timelines had been due to anomalies in the behavior of the other girls, never her own shortcomings. If she ever hurt another person's feelings, she almost never broached the subject again, assuming she cared at all. Any gaps in her memory were few and far between.

So for the most part, she considered herself a fast learner.

This thought crossed Homura's mind as she dragged herself out of bed and padded down the stairs, clutching the small bundle of synthetic tea bags to her chest. She took a small blanket with her, because she had suddenly started to get chills; ridiculous, considering that spring was just around the corner. It was like her body was purposefully rebelling against her.

It was scary.

Retreating into the kitchen, she got some water into a kettle and set it on the stove. She started the waiting game after that, standing closer to the stove's kerosene flame than she probably should have been, if only to combat the random shudders that gripped her body. She didn't have a runny nose, or a swollen throat; she just _hurt_.

_Don't try to do everything on your own, okay?_

She was a fast learner. She was a fast learner, but Homura knew that even she had some mistakes that she could never seem to stop repeating. And among those was the flaw, the personal _hubris_, of extreme self reliance.

_The two of you are rather bad at relying on others._

_What a terrifyingly close comparison,_ Homura thought, envisioning a certain blonde. If they were so alike, why were they so uncomfortable around each other?

Or maybe that _was_ why.

Call it a fatal flaw. Call it stubbornness, call it arrogance, but Akemi Homura knew that there were some mistakes worth repeating, even till the end of time. She wasn't fool enough to never accept help, but when it came to protecting the people she loved, Homura had learned to always rely on herself, and herself only.

_I'm sorry, Kiku,_ she thought, slipping her ring off her finger. _I'm a hypocrite._ She had encouraged the brunette to be honest with Mami, when she herself was spinning a lie of her own.

Homura knew that her problem lay in the magic running through her veins. It was the only possible conclusion, after all. And from what she could gather, it was the _usage_ of magic that most hurt her. It would explain the relief she had felt upon returning to glasses, as well as the vertigo she experienced when communicating telepathically. The direct cause for these symptoms, however, lay yet in mystery.

Simply put, she needed more data.

Inhaling deeply, Homura focused her meager energies on the soul ring. If she was really going to figure this out herself, she would have to test her boundaries. The gem seemed to flicker weakly in response.

Holding her breath, Homura transformed.

A bright, violet light engulfed her form, and at the same time the ceiling tipped above her. Homura stumbled and grabbed the edge of the kitchen counter through reflex, just barely managing to steady herself. The transformation process completed itself in the meantime, as the light dissipated into nothing, leaving her clad in magical form for the first time in ages.

The shield user released a pent up breath she hadn't known she'd been holding, and continued to pant heavily afterwards. Her entire body felt drenched in cold sweat, and her knuckles shook as they gripped the counter, turning white as bone. Closing her eyes, Homura bared her teeth and forced herself to stand up, wobbling up to a wider stance as she focused all her energy on not losing her lunch right then and there.

She stayed like that for a full five minutes, until her heartbeat returned to more of a nervous flutter. One eye caught her reflection in the mirror; she looked gaunt. She looked like Tayoshi. The thought made her insides cringe, and for a moment Homura considered turning back.

But no, she couldn't. She had to figure this out, lest she regret it later.

Biting her lip, Homura rested her hand over the rim of her shield, and with another deep breath and a quick prayer, she opened a storage portal.

Her entire body erupted into flames in response, but Homura somehow managed to avoid collapsing as she plunged her hand into the portal, clawing around until her fingers closed around the handle of an old pistol. She lost her footing then, falling back against the pantry with full force, the wooden doors rattling loudly at the impact. Literal stars were exploding in her vision at this point, but through pure strength of will she groaned and tore the gun out of storage, her entire arm shaking badly from fatigue.

The storage portal closed itself immediately afterwards, no longer sustainable. Homura stared at the clunky old Glock resting in her shaking fingers, chest heaving, hair matted to the edge of her forehead, not even registering the fact that she had accomplished something. She wasn't surrounded by straight lines anymore; the contours were wavy and indistinguishable, and the world tilted around her.

The pistole fell to the floor first, clattering against the cold kitchen tiles.

Homura's limp body joined it a moment later.

The last thing she heard was the sound of the front door opening.

_"__Homura?...HOMURA!"_

* * *

><p><em>Scritch. Scritch.<em>

Homura was afraid to open her eyes. She had been conscious for the past minute already, but her brain wouldn't let her see. She lay with her eyes gently closed, effectively feigning sleep as her mind brooded. Kyouko's aura was very prevalent in front of her, just a foot away from her nose; if Homura were to look now, she would probably see a very angry redhead glaring back at her.

_Scritch...scritch..._

The girl couldn't help herself, and her ears twitched at the noise. It was the sound of nails against wood, and it occurred to her that Kyouko must be tapping and scratching at the bedside table as she waited. Kyouko only did that when she was severely distressed; Homura imagined that the redhead must be gnawing worriedly at her lip too.

_Scritch..._

Homura knew that she couldn't play this game forever. She would have to wake up eventually, and Kyouko could be very patient if her concentration was sufficient. Besides, it was cruel to make her partner wait like this. She knew it was in Kyouko's nature to worry, and feigning sleep like this would only further the girl's pain.

She was just afraid to explain herself.

Taking a deep breath, Homura opened her eyes.

Kyouko seemed to take notice immediately, sitting straight up in her chair but kicking it backwards instead. "Homura! Are you-"

"I'm fine," The time traveler grunted, forcing herself to sit up. Kyouko watched her apprehensively, bending down to pick the chair up off the ground, but keeping her bloodred eyes trained on Homura the entire time. The shield user felt small under that fierce gaze. The redhead reached over and felt Homura's forehead, and the younger girl had to suppress a flinch.

"You've still got a fever." It came out sounding accusatory, and Homura could say nothing in her own defense. "Are you thirsty?" Kyouko asked a moment later, but Homura simply shook her head. The redhead exhaled loudly and retook her seat in the chair, crossing her arms over her chest and staring at the raven haired girl for a long while.

"You said you were fine," Kyouko said at last, and the way she said it made her emotions obvious. She was pissed.

But Homura was not one to back down without a fight, and she looked away from the redhead, narrowing her eyes. "I _am_ fine."

"_No,_ you aren't," Kyouko growled, and this time it wasn't the playful kind of rumble she would make it bed. It was the barely suppressed roar of a hunter. "People who are 'fine' don't go down like folding chairs after pulling a damn _pistol_ out. Do you think I'm stupid or something?"

"No," Homura sighed, but there was a dash of aggravation mixed in. She reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose, massaging the small length of cartilage. "No, I don't. But I didn't want you to worry about me. It wasn't worth your time."

Kyouko seemed to choke on her own breathing, and when Homura looked at her the girl was gaping incredulously. "Not worth my time? You collapsed in the middle of the kitchen! Not to mention you look even worse than you did this morning! You're _sick,_ Homura."

"Then what do you think I should have done?" Homura snapped, turning in her sitting position to throw visual daggers at the redhead. "Asked you to call the ambulance? What could they have done for me? I'm a magical girl! Magical girls don't just get sick like ordinary people do!"

"That's exactly what I mean," Kyouko said angrily. She placed both hands on each knee and leaned forward, exerting her presence with full force. "I didn't believe for a second that you were completely okay this morning, but you said you were fine, so I was willing to assume that it wasn't a big deal. But it _was _a big deal. It's all connected, isn't it? The headaches, the glasses, you collapsing...what is going _on, _Homura?"

"I don't know!" The time traveler yelled, and Kyouko visibly reared back; Homura very rarely shouted, and it had caught the redhead by surprise. "I don't know," She repeated, whispering this time. "But something's wrong with me. The headaches disappeared once I stopped using magic for my vision, and for a while I thought things would be fine. But now my entire _body_ hurts instead, and I didn't know what to do. I don't know what's wrong with me, Kyouko. I don't know..."

Kyouko's eyes widened. "Homura..."

It occurred to the shield user that her shoulders were shaking from exertion, the effect compounded by the sourceless chills that were rocking her body. She took in a deep breath to calm herself, but the air rattled in her throat like the tail of a dying snake, and the sound made her heart clench with fear.

"I don't know what to do," She said, gritting her teeth. When she blinked, her vision became blurry. "I feel like I can't control my own body anymore. Everything _hurts._ I haven't felt this way since the day I contracted, Kyouko, I'm scared..."

Something detached itself from her eye and fell, the latent tear staining a small prick of the bedsheets. The rest of her eyes were now watery with more tears, and though none of them fell, for Homura it was a profound expression of weakness.

"Woah, hey," Kyouko murmured, immediately subduing her anger. She climbed onto the bed and pulled Homura in to a tight hug, pulling the shield user close. Homura fisted the redhead's collar and buried her face into the girl's neck as she cried, weeping quietly, but the small, tortured breaths that she did take hurt Kyouko to hear more than anything else. "Shh," The redhead said, stroking Homura's hair. "It's okay to cry. It's okay."

They stayed like that for a while, as Kyouko waited for Homura to collect herself. And as she did, she gazed out the window, at the dying sun, and wondered when their problems would ever end.

True to her form, Homura didn't need much time; she swallowed the last of her tears a minute later, then drew back, wiping at her eyes. "I'm sorry," She muttered, rubbing angrily at her face. "I just-"

"Don't apologize," Kyouko said sternly, and the time traveler fell quiet, gazing at the redhead with glittering, tear flecked eyes. Reaching up, she lightly stroked the shield user's face. "You were under a lot of stress, Homura. I understand that. If you need to cry, then you should cry. I'm here for you."

Homura blinked, then looked dejectedly at the bedsheets. "But you're mad at me, aren't you? I lied to you. I tried to figure everything out myself."

"Yeah, I'm mad," Kyouko said, and she let it show in her voice. Homura glanced at her fearfully, but the redhead simply rested their foreheads together, letting out a long, ragged breath. "But it's just because...because I'm afraid to lose you, Homura. I don't want anything to happen to you. You're the first person I've really cared about in a long time. So finding out that there might be something wrong with you, and finding out like this...it scares me too. It scares me even more. I feel like if I don't have you, I'll lose everything else."

Homura made timid eye contact with her, which was a little difficult given their close proximity. "I don't want to go anywhere either, Kyouko." The words sounded almost pleading, and it broke the redhead's heart to hear them.

"Mmm," Kyouko agreed, pulling the girl in for another hug, a gentle one this time. "And that's why...I want to figure this thing out together, okay? No more secrets. I don't want to lose you, and I would like to think that you don't want to lose me either..."

Homura's hands tightened around the redhead's neck. "I don't."

"Then let's be open to each other about this," Kyouko murmured. "I'll do anything I can to fix this, Homura. You know that. I'll do anything...so please, just be honest with me. That's all I ask in return."

Homura's breath caught in her throat, and she almost felt like crying again. She really was a lucky for having met Kyouko. The girl only cared for the simple things in life, and asked for even simpler. Friends, family, honesty, love; these were the only things Kyouko truly desired, when others would have asked for so much more. For that reason, and so many others, Homura considered Kyouko to be a beautiful human being.

If only the redhead also understood that asking for honesty was one of the most difficult requests to grant.

But it was also one of those requests that were impossible to refuse, for doing so would make her the cruelest of human beings.

So, raising her head and kissing Kyouko tenderly on the cheek, she leaned forward and whispered, "Okay. I promise."

The redhead smiled, then kissed her back.

"Thanks."

Another deep silence enveloped them, but it was a comfortable one.

"Is there anything I can do right now?" Kyouko asked, looking down. "Anything that can help with the pain?"

Homura didn't respond immediately, instead closing her eyes and thinking over her answer. A long list of painkillers and over the counter drugs was the first thing to come to mind, but she dismissed them all. None of those things would help her. No, she needed something else. Something that couldn't be replaced.

And as she sat and pondered, Homura thought that it was moments like these that she felt best. It was warm here, enveloped within Kyouko's secure arms, and safe. During the long nights when she had awoken from terrible nightmares, she had found comfort in turning to face the redhead, watching the girl's sleeping face until she fell asleep herself. There was a comfort in knowing she was not alone. And now, the rise and fall of Kyouko's breathing, the strong beating of her heart beneath Homura's palm...these were all things she considered precious, considered unique only to them. It was strange, really, because whenever Homura allowed herself to become lost within the ethereal wreaths of Kyouko's scent, she thought that her soul didn't hurt so much.

"Homura?" Kyouko prompted, shaking the girl gently.

Pulled out of her reverie, the time traveler blinked two bleary eyes open, then closed them again, letting out a tired breath.

"Just..." She tried to think of some eloquent way to say it, but failed. There was no point.

"Just...hold me. And don't let go."

Kyouko stared at her partner for a moment, a little surprised by the request, but smiled a moment later. Pulling the blanket aside, she slipped them both beneath it and brought the sheets up to their chins, before reaching out and pulling Homura to her chest. The raven haired girl curled her shirt between her fingers, slowly inhaled the redhead's scent, and sighed contentedly.

"Is this good?" Kyouko asked softly, not really expecting an answer. The girl looked to be halfway asleep already, and after a moment she found that she was right. Homura was breathing softly as she slept, her long eyelashes fluttering as she slumbered.

Smiling, Kyouko was about to settle in for a long nap when Homura mumbled something.

"Yeah," The girl murmured, the words slurred by sleep. "S' good. I...I luh..."

The rest of the sentence fell into oblivion, and Kyouko was left staring with wide eyes, her heart rate going a little faster than it should have been.

Then, with a pronounced sigh, she turned over and closed her eyes, thinking that she wouldn't be sleeping for a long while.

* * *

><p><strong>I wasn't able to update last week thanks to a brutal sickness, which is kind of ironic in the context of this chapter, maybe Godoka is punishing me for abusing Homura :(<strong>

**As for the length of this story, I plan for it to be between 35 and 40 chapters long. **

**Now, for some reviewer responses (because some of you love to ask questions while in Anon mode).**

** hduaohduoa: I agree that Part 1 was rife with inconsistencies. If you care to know why it's probably because I've altered, tweaked and in some cases completely changed several of the endings/plot points. This story was supposed to be a short 15 chapter thing, but obviously it didn't go as planned. Plus, my plot management sucks.**

** SquietSA: Grief seeds still serve the purpose of cleansing souls in the new universe. However, they simply shatter and are replaced if they become too sullied, as explained by Kyubey at the very end of the series. As for Sayaka's wish location, I would have to say that since Madoka basically erased her from existence, her wish location would have gone with her, as she now exists in whatever universe Madoka lives in (though the real reason is that I just totally forgot).**

** SatoshiKyu: I'm glad you like Kiku. And I wouldn't make Homura suffer just to feed my megane fetish. Or Kyouko's, for that matter.**

**~Banshee**


	28. Samsara

Chapter 28: Samsara

It was a dark and stormy night.

Kiku almost laughed out loud at herself immediately after thinking that particular line; she might not have been the stellar light of her literature class, but her tendency towards cliche wasn't _that_ bad. Even she could think of better ways of expressing the melodrama in her life.

But it was still fitting, in a way. After all, her life had felt like a series of fictional cliches for the past several months. Magical wish granting creatures, super powered humans, unrequited and requited love...from the fantastical to the emotional, she felt like the incarnation of a bad author's fantasies. Then again, she couldn't generalize like that; after all, some of her favorite stories dealt in those very same tropes. Perhaps it wasn't the nature of the cliche that mattered, but how it was addressed, what it was meant to mean...

Sighing softly to herself, Kiku turned over in the hammock she was occupying, feeling the soft fabric give beneath her bare shoulders. It had been an act of pure impulse to set this thing up on the apartment balcony. She had been rummaging through the closet when she found the wound up fabric tucked away discreetly into a corner, and her childish disposition had automatically taken over. Exclaiming that she had always wanted to take a long nap in a hammock, the illusionist had zealously erected the simple structure within the hour. Mami had, of course, watched with that lovingly exasperated face she always made. It wasn't much, perhaps, but it was the most actual affection she would ever receive from the blonde. Besides, she had laughed while making it, and Mami had laughed too. She had been happy then.

A small curl of brown hair caught her wandering eye, and she fingered the stray strand absentmindedly. Mami had left an hour ago, headed to yet another job interview. It was something different this time, something not so cliche or business oriented as her previous attempts, apparently. Kiku could care less, honestly. The jobs were all the same. They all did the same thing. They all kept her dream an illusion. But she had been alone after that, as she had declined the blonde's offer to go together, and after a while it had started to feed stuffy in the apartment. Which was odd, since there were actually less people around to raise the temperature. And so here she was in the jilted hammock.

Flipping back over to her left, Kiku scrunched her eyes shut and stretched luxuriously, loosening her tense muscles. It was night, a cool one; winter was now in full retreat, and as the full brunt of March loomed over them, the temperature was beginning to become more tolerable. She had a proper view from up here, and she could see the glittering lights of Mitakihara below. The illusionist lost herself staring into those shimmering orbs of yellow, which dotted a sea of blackness for miles. She imagined that some divine being had wept tears of gold unto the world, and she herself had arrived in time to see only the stains. She wondered if such a goddess really existed, and if she did, whether she was still crying.

Finally losing interest in the glimmering cityscape, Kiku sank back down into the hammock, closing her eyes. She preferred the personal night behind her eyelids to the public one that everyone partook in. In it, she thought back to the past week.

She had tried her hardest to broach the topic with Mami, she really had. But every time she opened her mouth to initiate the conversation, that same cowardice which Homura had condemned crept back up and robbed her of her courage. The brunette was tentatively call for the blonde's attention, and Mami would look up at her with an inquiring smile, that damn, beautiful, disarming smile. And then she would fail. Again.

There was a small notebook she had, a diary of sorts, though perhaps not as sentimental as the term suggested; Kiku didn't consider herself that kind of girl. But she would occasional make quick sketches in it, jot down thoughts she was afraid of forgetting. Eventually, her random notes began to take a particular form. Her drawings took a particular interest in silverware and foods, and her written notes began reflecting the information that Homura had compiled for her. Before the brunette could check herself, she was fantasizing about running a cafe with Mami like some blasted grade schooler discovering crayons for the first time. Kiku had been incredibly embarrassed upon realizing this, looking at the unrestrained thing she had written down.

_The chairs will be yellow; Mami likes yellow. But the tabletops will be green, since I prefer it over yellow, and we need to have some middle ground. Though I wonder if the colors would clash; I wouldn't want to hurt the customers' eyes..._

She had been disgusted with herself, but couldn't bring herself to destroy the notebook. What would be the point? It was simply an incarnation of her thoughts and feelings. Burning the manifestation of an idea didn't kill the idea itself. It just made the thought infinitely more precious.

The little notebook was sitting by her side in the hammock, and as Kiku thought this she reached over and picked it up, flipping through it languidly. Then she sighed and let the booklet fall, the pages falling onto her face and blocking her vision. Mami would be returning home soon, with a result in hand. And to be honest, she more than hoped the blonde wouldn't get the job. It was cruel of her, certainly, and more than a little selfish, but hadn't Homura encouraged her to that end?

_Is this really okay?_ The illusionist thought, exhaling into the spine of her notebook. It smelled like old paper. _Does someone have to suffer for another to be happy? Isn't there a way to satisfy everyone? Conflict can't be the only way to accomplish something..._

From the stories Homura had told her about Mami's past, Kiku figured that the blonde had wondered the same things, in her time.

Involuntarily, Kiku shivered. It was night, and she was in nothing but a pair of shorts and a thin tank top, but she didn't think it was from the cold. The brunette began to consider going inside or fetching a blanket when she heard the front door open.

Instinctively, she froze. Her body wouldn't let her turn and look at Mami; would the blonde be wearing a bright, triumphant face, waving an acceptance form in her hand? Or would she walk in with a forced smile, and stay silent for a while before finally admitting her failure? Either way, Kiku would have to fake it. Whether she had to be congratulatory or sympathetic, she was a liar.

So in order to procrastinate, she didn't look.

She heard stockinged footsteps padding throughout the apartment behind her. The sliding door to the balcony was left open, but the wire mesh screen door was still in place; Mami hated it when flies got in. Kiku closed her eyes and listened to the blonde walk around, knowing that she was fully visible from the front door. She would let the girl come on her own time.

A moment later, the blonde placed a multitude of things down with a pronounced huff. Kiku's heartbeat quickened when the footsteps headed towards the screen door, and soon enough she heard it be slid aside. Mami slipped into a pair of outdoor slippers and flip flopped over to the side of the hammock, stopping when she stood quietly over the brunette's form

"Hey," Kiku murmured, still keeping her eyes closed. "How did it go?"

When there was no answer, she gave in and looked.

The first thing she noticed was Mami's expression. It matched neither of her guesses. Rather, the girl looked tired. Dejected, even. Sighing softly, the blonde looked down at Kiku's body and asked, "Do you really feel comfortable being outside in that?"

Blinking, the brunette looked down at herself, at her long, bare legs, at the thin tank top that was just barely clinging to her shoulders. It also occurred to her that she lacked any other clothing beneath her top, and the chilly wind had made that fact a little obvious to the eye. Biting her lip in embarrassment, Kiku stole a quick glance at Mami, but was surprised to find the blonde looking pointedly away, a slight blush on her face. Despite the absurdity of the situation, and small splash of pride rang out in Kiku's chest. It was the first time her body had had any visible effect on Mami's composure. The thought gave her strength.

"I'm kind of comfortable right now," Kiku said sheepishly, crossing her arms in mock defiance. Though she mostly did it to hide her chest.

Mami rolled her eyes, reaching up and tugging the ribbons from her hair. Her signature drills fell free down the length of her neck. "Mind if I join you?" She sighed, and Kiku thought about it for a moment before nodding. The blonde climbed into the hammock beside her, letting out a long breath as she settled into the soft fabric, shifting to get more comfortable.

Kiku felt her heart rate pick up again, and she knew this was going to be difficult. The hammock indented naturally down the middle, and gravity consequently pushed the two of them against each other. And disregarding the fact that she really was showing a lot of skin today, the more important observation was that she had never been _this_ close to Mami before.

"I thought you'd never end up using this thing," The blonde murmured, snapping Kiku's attention back to reality. Their arms pressed awkwardly against each other, putting undue pressure on their respective shoulders. Frowning, Mami remedied this by looping her arm through Kiku's, tugging them a little closer.

_Ohmygod,_ the brunette swore, as her elbow naturally pressed against Mami's considerable...assets. _If my nose bleeds now, it'll take forever to wash it out of this goddam hammock._

"Th-The impulse struck me," She muttered back. Then she remembered that the notebook was now sitting underneath her back, where she had shoved it upon Mami's arrival. She could feel the corner digging into her spine.

They stayed like that for a little while, Mami watching the the city lights languidly, Kiku trying to avoid the woes of cardiac arrest. The brunette found the urge to make conversation quickly, as she had never been one of the "sit around in each others' arms quietly" kinds of people. She didn't really mind this situation at all, though.

"So, uh..." She cleared her throat first; she was hoarse. "How did it go?"

Mami, whose body language had seemed to have relaxed considerably, tensed up again. Biting her lip and looking away from the city, she muttered, "I didn't get the job."

Relief soared in Kiku's chest, followed by crushing guilt.

"How come?" She asked.

"Well, I was the only high school student there, for starters," Mami sighed. She sounded surprisingly bitter. Or perhaps it shouldn't be much of a surprise, anymore. "They weren't taking me seriously from the start. To their credit, they let me down nicely. But I've heard the same thing from so many other people that it didn't really help. Not at all, actually."

Kiku absorbed the words quietly, settling into the role of listener as Mami continued to tell her about the interview. She tried to be patient, and the blonde soon exhausted her memory, or perhaps there simply wasn't much more to tell. She was right; they had both heard this story enough times already.

"Our chances would be a lot better if we both tried to get employed somewhere, you know," Kiku began. "If you would just let me go out and look..."

"No," Mami said firmly. "You'd get caught, Kiku. It isn't easy to assume a completely new identity, especially when ordinary people are involved. Last time it was just among us four. Not to mention that there are so many papers and such to authorize..."

"We could figure something out," Kiku pointed out, with a little stubbornness.

"We've had this conversation a million times already," Mami grunted, crossing her arms over her chest, letting go of Kiku in the process. The brunette felt a small iota of disappointment. "What's the point in having it again?"

She was right, Kiku thought, as a thick silence enveloped them yet again. Mami was always right. What was the point of this, of any of this? There was no point in Mami pursuing a future beyond her grasp. But then again, there was no point in her sitting on her hands and going along with the blonde's aspirations. It was so pointless, all of it. One of them would have to admit defeat eventually. It was a war, and Kiku was the only one aware of it. They were both chasing something useless.

They were all stuck in endless cycles. She caught herself then, thinking of an exception to the thought; Homura had broken free, after all. She had been stuck too, stuck within the never ending loop of despair and hopelessness, and though she was not aware of it, time as well. How had the shield user done it? Kiku knew that Homura had her problems; her mysterious sickness was one among many. But for the most part, the girl seemed happy. When she saw the time traveler together with Kyouko, she could only think that they seemed happy together. They were satisfied.

How could she be like them?

_You must instigate. Nothing will change, unless you do._

_Or else you may crumble._

Homura hadn't actually said the last part, but she had seen it on the girl's face. It was a warning. Obviously the shield user spoke from experience, but Kiku couldn't imagine what. What kind of suffering forced a person to change? She supposed there was an infinite amount of possibilities.

There was a shift in weight in the hammock, and suddenly Mami was pressing her nose into Kiku's bare shoulder, running it along the smooth skin. The brunette knew without looking that goosebumps were probably erupting along the length of her arm. "Look, I'm sorry," the blonde said. "I didn't mean to snap. But it's just...I want to be able to provide for you, Kiku. I want to look out for you. All of this is for you, I promise."

Kiku's heart throbbed in response. It felt unbelievably good to hear those words come from Mami's mouth, and for a moment she was appeased. "I know. You're just terrible at expressing yourself," The brunette teased, reaching out and poking the blonde on the nose.

Mami giggled softly and poked her back, flashing that winning smile that had unknowingly sunk its teeth into the illusionist's heart. "Am I really? I'm rather straightforward, am I not?"

"That's the problem," Kiku snorted. "You should be a little more...subtle."

Mami hummed, feigning an impressed air. "I see. Maybe you could teach me sometime, Kiku."

_I probably could,_ She thought to herself. _That's our problem, really. You're too straightforward, and I'm too subtle. _

_I guess opposites really do attract._

"Maybe you should just watch and learn," Kiku countered, drawing in one leg and crossing the other over it. She noticed Mami's irises flit downward to note the movement, and suddenly felt very self conscious. "You always were more of a visual learner, weren't you?"

"Hmm. I don't know. I learn best from experience," Mami intoned, putting a slender finger to her chin.

"I guess that's why you prefer stability," Kiku mused. "Isn't that boring though? You can't fascinate anybody while being in the same place all the time."

"Sure you can. Just ask the stars."

Almost as if on cue, a heavy cloud cover dissipated, revealing the shimmering sky lights above. Kiku met them with a small frown, fingering the corner of the small notebook, still wedged beneath her back.

_Stars die, Mami. They go out with a great bang._

_"_It's probably because you're both yellow," She muttered under her breath.

To her surprise, Mami choked with laughter. "Excuse me?" She asked incredulously, sounding offended, but she smiled while she said it. Grinning instinctively, Kiku leaned over the blonde and brought them nose to nose.

"I said," She elaborated, "That it's probably because you're both yellow."

For once, Mami didn't pull away; rather, she narrowed her eyes playfully. It was unbelievably refreshing to see that expression on her face again. It had occurred to Kiku that they hadn't laughed together like this in a long time.

"How rude of you," Mami miffed. "By the same logic, am I supposed to assume you love trees and grass?"

"I do in fact love trees and grass," Kiku said sagely, "But for some reason it doesn't work the same way." Mami scoffed, and they both laughed afterwards.

"Maybe I'll buy you a baby tree for you to plant in the backyard," The blonde suggested, rolling her eyes.

"We don't _have_ a backyard."

"Well, I want to have one someday." Mami's tone subdued itself considerably, and she seemed to fall into deep thought. "Yeah. We'll have that someday. And you'll have your tree, and your grass, and I'll have my stars. I want you to have all those things, Kiku, you know? And I've been trying, but lately I've been thinking that maybe I'm not good enough-"

"No!" Kiku interrupted her, and suddenly she wasn't leaning over Mami anymore, but hovering directly above the girl, hands on either side of the blonde's shoulders, knees bordering her hips. The hammock swayed dangerously from side to side, but didn't fall, but neither of them were particularly concerned by that at the moment. Mami was staring up at her with a bewildered expression, questions written all over her face. Questions Kiku couldn't answer herself; she was breathing faster for some reason, and her chest felt like it wanted to explode.

What had gotten into her? It had just been the words, the fear; that Mami, her hero, her love, could think that she wasn't good enough. If Mami didn't have any confidence, who would be the pulling force between them? Kiku had no strength of her own. She drew hers from Mami. So to hear the blonde admit weakness, to begin to wonder if this was all worth it or not...it had hurt to much to witness. She needed to do something, needed to _say _something, but _what?_

"Kiku?" Mami asked, sounding a little scared. The brunette had been staring at her with intent for the past several seconds, not saying a single word. Blinking once, then licking her lips, Kiku tried to speak coherently.

"You _are_ good enough," She said, her voice coming out wobbly regardless. "Don't tell yourself that you aren't. That how you start losing yourself. Once you start thinking it's impossible, it really does become impossible. The only way to make a reality is to believe in the illusion first..."

Mami smiled amiably up at her. Kiku had her hands wrapped tightly around the blonde's wrists, and the brunette thought later that it must have hurt, but the older girl only stroked her fingers with her thumb. The illusionist realized that she was breathing harder than was logical, but Mami was ever the epitome of calm, closing her eyes as another small smile crept over those alluring lips.

"Thank you, Kiku," She said, opening her eyes. "It means a lot for you to say that…and it makes me happy to hear it. You were always by my side, even when you had no idea what was going on. I must have given you so much trouble."

_Yes, you did,_ the brunette thought, as her eyes lingered on Mami's. _And you still do. _The thought occurred to her then, that this was the perfect opportunity, a chance to voice her grievances.

The notebook had fallen out of the hammock and clattered to the floor in the struggle, but it was right there, just beyond her reach, and she could open it up and show it to the blonde... "Maybe you do," Kiku said, and her usage of the present tense captured the girl's attention.

"Look, Mami," She whispered, drawing in a little closer, as the night gathered behind her, crushing her spine, almost forcing the words out of her throat. "There's something I've been wanting to tell you, but I haven't been able to say it for a long time. I just couldn't get the words out, see, like I am now."

Mami was looking up at her in near fascination, and Kiku's heart broke at the utterly innocent expression she found there. This girl had no idea what she was doing to the illusionist. "What is it, Kiku?" She asked softly, reaching up to gently stroke the girl's hair aside.

Kiku grabbed the hand and pressed it against her cheek, struggling with the words, but feeling like she had to say them, and say them _now_, before she lost her balls again. The cafe, Junko, Homura, her feelings, all of it at once.

"What I've been meaning to tell you, Mami, is-"

Mami's phone rang.

Mami's _god damn phone rang!_ It was such an obvious roadblock, such an utterly, absolutely, cliched way to interrupt a vital conversation that Kiku could do little more than stare in complete shock as the blonde flinched at the sudden noise, then dug the small device out of her pocket, at least having the decency to look annoyed at the piece of tech. She squinted at the screen, trying to make out the caller ID.

"Who..." Kiku's tongue felt like plastic. "Who is it?"

Mami blinked. "It's Mishki." She looked apologetically at the brunette. "I can let it go to voicemail."

Kiku's will had, by now, utterly deflated, and she only managed a tepid shake of the head. "No…just answer it."

Mami bowed her head in acceptance and accepted the call.

"Hello?" The blonde asked, pressing the receiver to her ear. "Yes, hello, Mishki. Yes, I've been fine. What-" She paused. "What? Oh...no, not yet. Why do you..."

The girl's voice trailed off as she listened to whatever Mishki was saying over the phone. Kiku could only watch Mami's face, and she was somewhat horrified to see it change from a confused expression to an elated one. The brunette leaned back when Mami suddenly shot up into a sitting position, sending the hammock swaying once again.

"Yes! Yes, of course! Thank you so much!" Mami exclaimed, almost crushing the phone to her head now. Kiku simply stared, too confused to register the fact that she was literally straddling the blonde's hips at the moment. Mami shouted a few more niceties into the phone, then disconnected the call. Kiku was about to ask what the hell was going on, but was preempted when the blonde laughed and pulled her into a tight hug.

"Wha-" Kiku squeaked in the most embarrassing way, her heart exploding into a billion mushy pieces. She went beet red immediately, but Mami was too exhilarated to notice, pulling away from the illusionist and saying,

"I got another chance!"

"Another chance?" Kiku said breathlessly, still trying to calm her hammering heart.

"Mishki called with a job opportunity," Mami explained rapidly. "She said the place that recently hired her was looking for another person to fill in employee absences, and they asked her to consult a few friends...she says she can vouch for me, which should really increase my chances! Isn't that great?"

"I..." The full extent of what Mami was telling her finally hit home, and Kiku felt her heart begin to pound for an entirely different reason. It was happening again. The universe was working against her, and the cycle would repeat itself. She had to act now. She had to instigate. She couldn't make the same mistake as before.

"That...that's great!" Kiku said forcibly, faking a smile. She took the opportunity to give the blonde another hug, if only to hide her face. "Looks like this is finally your chance."

"Precisely!" Mami said jubilantly, holding one finger up in the air like a weapon. She untangled herself from Kiku and slipped out of the hammock, leaving the illusionist bobbing up and down on the elastic fabric. "Interview's on the fifteenth...gosh, that's in two days! I've got to decide what I'm going to wear...maybe I should go more casual this time..."

Muttering to herself, Mami walked back into the apartment, closing the screen door behind herself. Kiku stared at the door for a very long time, still sitting in the same position Mami had left her in, struggling with how quickly everything had fallen apart. How unlucky could a girl get? Shouldn't someone with magical literally running through her veins be entitled to a _little_ more luck?

Biting her lip forcefully, Kiku bowed her head, staring at the fabric of the hammock. Then, with a muted growl, she punched it.

The fifteenth, huh?

_Beware the ides of March,_ she thought drily.

Then she laughed, without humor. Leaning over, she kicked the notebook into the corner of the balcony.

Another fucking cliche.

* * *

><p>When Homura opened her closet that morning, she was mildly surprised to find that it was almost devoid of clothing.<p>

Sifting through what little there was, she thought back and realized that with her sickness, she had failed to do her laundry this week. She and Kyouko had decided a while ago to take care of their respective clothes, as there was still an embarrassing element to knowing your girlfriend was handling your panties. And now she didn't have an indoor shirt to wear.

Sighing, Homura closed her closet and opened Kyouko's instead, eyes roving over the sloppily stacks of shirts and pants. She considered using telepathy to contact the redhead, but decided against it; she didn't really feel like throwing up again.

Turning her head, she craned her neck and yelled, "Kyouko!"

"What!" Came the faint reply a moment later, from the first floor.

"Can I borrow one of your shirts!"

"Why the hell do you want to burrow into my shit?!"

"I said can I borrow one of your shirts, you idiot!"

"Oh! Yeah! Go ahead!"

Rolling her eyes, Homura began digging through the redhead's clothing. Though she had managed to avoid using magic, the yelling still tired her out a little. She had recovered considerably from her crippling sickness, but the "disease" had left her body feeling weak and vulnerable. Still, Homura had been surprised at the abruptness of her recovery. It was as if spending a night pressed up against Kyouko had been a miracle cure.

Exhaling, she finally settled for what looked to be the most doable shirt; a lot of Kyouko's clothes had weird symbols and sayings on them that she didn't particularly understand, and she didn't want to walk around with something unintentionally ridiculous across her chest. Standing on her tiptoes, the shield user pulled out the shirt. It was a simple white tee, with a picture of a heart shaped candy that had the words "Bite Me" written in cursive across it. Homura vaguely recalled that Kyouko considered this shirt too girly for her taste, and so she rarely wore it. Well, that suited her purpose just fine.

Tugging off her pajamas, Homura slipped into the tee. Kyouko's dimensions were a little different from her own, and the shirt tumbled down past her shorts and halfway down her thighs. Looking down at herself, Homura sighed again. The rest of it was a little baggy too, but until she had actually clean clothes of her own, this would have to do.

Frowning to herself, Homura reached up and tugged at her collar. It was strange, but she felt a little...hot. And empty at the same time.

Kyouko was sitting languidly on the couch when Homura padded down the stairs, and the redhead eyed her a little strangely. The raven haired girl tugged at the hem of the shirt self consciously, but that only seemed to increase the redhead's fascinated gaze. Crossing the room quickly, she sat down on the couch beside Kyouko, who scooted over to give her some room.

Kyouko looked her up and down and smirked. "'Bite me'?" She snarked, gesturing at the shirt.

Homura blushed and drew her knees up to her chest, covering up the cheesy logo. "You're the one who bought it."

"Correction. Mami thought it would look great on me, and insisted I get it. And let me tell you that I've worn that a grand total of zero times."

"Congratulations."

"I am glad she made me buy it, though," Kyouko said sultrily, dragging her eyes down Homura's body. "There's something fascinating about seeing you in my clothes."

Homura rolled her eyes, even as her chest flared with heat at the words. She was feeling off today. She was craving...something. "I don't really see the difference between your clothes and mine," She said, scooting over and leaning easily into the redhead's shoulder. Impulsively, she opened her mouth and yawned loudly.

"Still feeling ragged?" Kyouko asked softly, giving her arm a squeeze.

"Yeah, a little," Homura admitted, rubbing at her face. It was strange; as tired as she was, the hungry little fire in her stomach didn't want to calm down. Reaching up, she rubbed briefly at her temples, lifting off her glasses to give her a eyes a rest.

"Do you have a headache again?" Kyouko asked worriedly, feeling Homura's forehead as if that would answer her question. "Do you want painkillers? I don't know if those actually work, but if you want I could get them-"

"I'm fine, Kyouko," She sighed, if only to let the redhead calm herself. In truth, her head did hurt, and her body ached. But it was nowhere near as bad as it had been a week ago, and she hated seeing Kyouko worry. Having the redhead fawn over her felt...weird. And not in a good way. "You sound like Mami right now. I'm okay. I just...ache a little bit."

"Ache, huh..." Kyouko murmured, thinking for a moment. Homura could tell she was trying to think of ways to be helpful. "Do you want a massage?" The redhead finally offered, reaching over and giving the shield user's shoulder an experimental squeeze.

"No, Kyouko, I-" Homura's voice trailed off and gave way to a soft sigh instead. The spot where the redhead had squeezed her gave off little tingles of pleasure, making the time traveler arch her neck back and raise her hackles, the buzz traveling down her spine. And as it was with anyone who had tense muscles, the squeeze came with a little undue pain.

Kyouko raised her eyebrows in muted surprise, then smiled. "See, you are stiff," She said accusingly. Looping her hands underneath Homura's arms, she tugged the girl towards here. "Come here. Let me take care of you."

"But I'm fine..." Homura protested weakly. She would never admit it, but that initial press had sparked something in her brain. It was bordering on the preternatural; she had never received a massage before, but a simple human touch shouldn't have been enough to undo her like that. Kyouko simply shushed her and had the shield user sit between the redhead's legs, so that her back pressed into the older girl's front. She looped her arms around Homura's stomach and pulled her closer. Finding herself effectively trapped, the time traveler sighed and accepted her fate. She didn't have the energy to resist.

"I'll be gentle," Kyouko promised, and Homura quietly nodded her head. Letting go of the smaller girl's stomach, she brought her hands up and laid them across her shoulders, then pressed her thumbs into Homura's back. The redhead pressed lightly, knowing that tense people would likely feel more pain than pleasure if she was too aggressive, and knowing Homura, the girl probably had more knots than an old tree.

"Nnn," Homura sighed softly, her hackles rising again at the foreign sensation. Little beads of warmth seemed to spread from where Kyouko's fingers touched her, loosening her muscles with deliberate intent. She stayed scrunched up like that for a little while, but soon relaxed again, her shoulders falling back into their original place as Kyouko continued to slowly unwind her.

"Good?" Kyouko asked tentatively, and Homura gave her a small nod. The redhead smiled to herself. Massaging was a talent that she had never put much weight in, but if it could help Homura feel a little better, she was glad to have it. Shifting her wrists, she squeezed the girl a little harder. Homura's breath caught in her throat as a small flash of pain shot through her spine, but Kyouko kept going, knowing that they had to cross this hurdle to get any real work done. After another minute the shield user's body abruptly relaxed, and she completely liquified in the redhead's arms. A hefty exhale escaped Homura's lips as she slumped back against Kyouko's chest.

"You..." The girl's eyes were half lidded already. "Since when were you good at this?"

"Since I was a kid," Kyouko replied, switching her focus to Homura's shoulder blades. She rubbed her thumb along the ridge of the bone, drawing out another pleased shudder. "My mom would always ask for them, and eventually I picked up a knack or it, I guess."

"I...I see..." Homura said, slurring her words. Kyouko had to bite back a smile. She loved finding ways to undo the girl's composure, and she had just discovered another one. And truth be told, Homura's shoulders really were incredibly stiff. It looked like they were going to be here for a while yet.

Kyouko had settled into a comfortable rhythm by now, recalling her experiences from childhood and relaying them into her fingers. Start from where the neck met the collarbone, then slowly work her way down to the shoulder blades; pay special attention to the spine, because that was there most of the stress found its home. Making sure to switch focus frequently, as the tension migrated as she worked. Start gentle and get progressively stronger. Top, bottom, top, bottom. As the clock on the wall slowly wound onwards, Kyouko felt Homura relaxing beneath her fingers.

The girl in question was releasing a constant stream of soft noises at this point, and the redhead found herself taking much pleasure in listening to them, trying different movements to elicit new sounds. Homura mewled softly when Kyouko paid attention to the soft region of flesh above the collarbone, gracing the redhead's ears with a plethora of pleased gasps as the heat continued to build in her own chest, but she suppressed her urges for Homura's sake. Deciding that she was spending too much time on one spot, she ran her hands along the girl's body before dragging her knuckles down the length of her spine.

Homura groaned loudly and arched her back, goosebumps erupting across her exposed throat as she let out a ragged breath. Her hands scrabbled for something to grab onto, latching themselves to Kyouko's knees, and the redhead couldn't help running her nose along the nape of Homura's neck, her own breathing picking up.

"That's...good," Homura grunted, as her spine seemed to lose its integrity. Kyouko pulled the girl even closer to hold her up, smirking smugly against her skin.

"Told you," The redhead whispered, letting her triumphant tone purposefully obvious. Homura flushed badly and looked away, biting her lip to stop the flow of cries, but Kyouko had her figured out already, and she hated to lose. Leaning forward, she wrapped her lips around Homura's ear, pressing her thumbs forcefully into the girl's back simultaneously.

"Ahh...nnn!" Homura first moan was cut off when Kyouko abruptly doubled her attack, and she ended up keening loudly as the two pronged assault hit her with full force. The redhead laughed huskily at the girl's reactions, her hot breath warming Homura's ear and making the nerves there go haywire. Why the _ears_, of all places? They were so exposed, so vulnerable, so easy for Kyouko to lean in and absolutely destroy her defenses...

"Ky...Kyou...ahh..." The spear wielder's heart throbbed, and she couldn't resist groaning softly back in response. The way Homura said her name...no one had ever said it that way before. She closed her fang and tongue around the shield user's lobe, tugging at the soft tab of flesh like she was trying to pull it off. Homura gasped wetly at the sensation, and Kyouko kept doing that, tugging and sucking lovingly, and the raven haired girl squirmed every single time, another delicious moan escaping her throat, her rhythm matching the movements of Kyouko's lips and tongue.

Homura's chest was on fire. The unexplainable craving she had woken up with was an inferno now, and the more she fed it the hungrier it got. She couldn't place it, but the burning need in the pit of her stomach felt almost unnatural, as if her soul was crying out for more, more friction, more heat.

Kyouko gasped when Homura's hands left her knees and ran up the length of her thighs, the younger girl's long, elegant fingers sending little shockwaves across her skin. The shield user craned her neck back, seeking to capture the redhead's lips with her own. But Kyouko leaned forward and attacked the girl's exposed throat instead, kissing her way down the smooth column of skin, nipping gently with her teeth and leaving little indents in her wake. Homura fell back onto the cushions, and Kyouko followed her, planting her knee between the time traveler's legs for balance, crawling up the length of the girl's limber body until they laid flush to each other, chest to chest, nose to nose, eye to eye.

They were both breathing hard at this point, and Kyouko saw something raw and foreign dwelling in Homura's blackened irises. The wild light in them looked almost unhinged, barely controlled by what little logic still resided in the girl's mind. It occurred to her that Homura was beginning to lose control of herself, and the realization excited the redhead beyond measure.

Looping her arms around Kyouko's neck, Homura tangled her fingers in the girl's hair and pulled her as close as she could, so close that their lips were pressed against each other as she spoke.

"Bite me, Kyouko," She whispered, before gently sinking her teeth into the redhead's lower lip.

That was it. Hell if Homura was tired; any semblance of self control Kyouko might have had was torn away by those words, those _teeth_. Tilting her head, she kissed Homura without hesitation, their tongues sneaking forward to tease at each other immediately, not even bothering with the shy, lips-only foreplay they had grown accustomed to. They both knew what they wanted; there was no point in skirting around the bush. Homura smiled and tried to wrestle inside of the redhead's mouth, but Kyouko growled and pinned the slippery appendage down with her own, reaching up and pulling sharply at the girl's hair to get her point across.

Homura whimpered apologetically against Kyouko's lips, and the older girl would have laughed maniacally if she had the time. They had gotten hot and heavy before, but there had always been an air of caution between them, a sort of feigned chastity that they had yet to break, until now. Something was different today. The two of them were finally beyond caring, at long last.

Easing her grip on Homura's locks, she kissed the girl in forgiveness before resuming where they had left off, a long, hungry embrace, eyes closed, lips melding together, hands wandering past their established borders. Homura whined lowly when Kyouko ground her hips against her exposed thigh, her voice peaking when their pelvises jolted together. Kyouko's hands peaked under the hem of Homura's shirt, and the shield user offered no protest, even arching her back to get closer to the redhead's touch, her temperature rising as Kyouko's hands tickled her navel, her stomach, the very top of her hip bones. Seeing through a thick haze, Kyouko pecked her way down Homura's jawline, gliding her noise dizzyingly across the girl's neck, before sinking her fangs into the skin that protected the time traveler's collarbone.

Homura's hips bucked, and she cried out in something other than pleasure: pain. Kyouko froze and started to lift her head, an apology already rising her her lips. "Sorry, I-"

A pair of hands pushed her head back down, and Kyouko found her nose squashed against the girl's sternum. "Do it again."

The redhead's eyes went wide. "What?"

"_Bite me_," Homura said harshly, barely getting the words out past her heavy breathing. Eyes traveling downward, Kyouko saw the same words emblazoned across the shield user's shirt in teasing cursive. Looking up, she saw the time traveler's eyes, and what she saw made her heart rate spike. The girl's irises were almost black with lust, and any semblance of restraint was totally gone from them. She radiated only need, and Kyouko was the only one who could give it to her.

Closing her eyes, Kyouko bit her.

Homura cried out immediately, the veins in her neck jumping. Feeling the thrill of discovery within her again, Kyouko bit her again, harder this time, and received an even louder cry. Something profoundly warm rose up inside the redhead's chest at that moment, and in that instant she felt the first tangible signs of arousal forming around her core. Getting off from pain, however minor...it was so _kinky._

"Ahh!" The girl's voice rang off the walls of the apartment as Kyouko continued to prick her, using her fangs hard enough to break the skin and draw blood, though she avoided going that far. The area around Homura's neck soon took on an angry red color, and Kyouko sucked on the skin there to alleviate some of the pain, more out of worry than anything else; she didn't want to hurt Homura too much.

Taking a chance, Kyouko looked up.

The image she found there would be burned into her memory for a long time. Homura was breathing harshly through her mouth, her tongue just barely peeking out past her teeth. She was biting her knuckle in an attempt to stem the flow of noises, but this only seemed to enhance how erotic the sight was, her tongue rubbing instinctively against the digit as if it needed something to do. Hell, _all_ of her looked hot, from the way her flat stomach was exposed, to how her chest heaved up and down, to the thin sheen of sweat glistening all over. Something deep and predatory rushed forward inside the redhead, so strong and demanding that she felt like she would explode-

Just then, something happened. The world splintered around her, then reformed itself again, but it wasn't exactly the same. Kyouko's gut tugged at her, and the room spun; she fell forward and barely caught herself, letting out a long groan as the ruby ring on her finger began to glow brightly, almost blinding her. She squinted and averted her gaze, only to find that Homura's ring was slowly pulsing as well, in synchronization with her own.

Narrowing her eyes against the light, Kyouko flipped her hand over, pressing the ring against the couch arm, swallowing the light up. Homura stared up at her, equally confused, but still too exhilarated to start asking questions. Her hair was splayed out messily beneath her, and the crazed look in her eyes hadn't completely subsided yet.

Closing her eyes, Kyouko drew in a deep breath, and finally recognized the feeling.

_Grief sharing,_ she thought, looking down at Homura's ring again. The familiar rush, the sense of _oneness_; yeah, it was definitely that. But how? And why now?

The redhead's thoughts were effectively distracted when Homura reached up and cupped her cheek with one hand, the time traveler smiling up at her with an expression of pure bliss.

"Kyouko," She murmured, looking almost half asleep. The purple glow of her gem reflected in her eyes.

"Yeah?" She whispered, enraptured.

Homura closed her eyes and breathed in deep, shuddering in the process. "I feel...good. Great, even." The relieved smile seemed plastered onto her face. "I doesn't hurt anymore."

Immediately afterwards, their connection severed itself.

The brilliant light faded away from Homura's finger, and when Kyouko checked her own hand she found the stone back to its original state. The buzzing in her veins subsided, and soon she felt like herself again, the aching in her heart the only discernible evidence that the grief sharing had even taken place. Homura let out a long sigh and seemed to fall asleep, her body sinking slowly into the cushions.

"Homura?" Kyouko said, concerned. She shook the girl gently. "Hey, you okay?"

The time traveler's eyes fluttered open, and when she looked up, Kyouko saw that her eyes were back to normal. "Kyouko..." She murmured, still groggy. Then the memory of the past ten minutes came rushing back, and a look of pure terror crossed her face. "Did I really just..."

"You totally lost your shit," Kyouko said in her usual blunt fashion.

Homura went redder than Kyouko's hair, plastering her hands over her face. "Oh my _god._"

"Hey, I'm not complaining," The redhead smirked, prying the girl's hands aside. "In fact, I rather enjoyed it. You should lose your mind more often, Homura. It's very...sexy."

The shield user blushed even harder at the last sentence; no one had really called her that before. "I don't know what came over me," She murmured.

Kyouko frowned in thought, looking at her ring. "Was that grief sharing on purpose?"

"No," Homura said firmly. "It was definitely not intentional. I can't explain it. It was almost as if my soul was attracted to yours, maybe even pulled into it."

Kyouko hummed in wonder. "Well, how do you feel?"

The younger girl blinked, then flexed her arms, stretching her long fingers. "I feel...strangely refreshed, actually," She murmured. She attempted to sit up, and Kyouko obliged, sitting back on the couch as Homura composed herself. She knew the moment of passion was long past now.

"My body doesn't hurt as much," Homura marveled, feeling herself all over. "And my headache is gone...I feel _normal_," She said, as if this were the most amazing thing ever.

Kyouko arched an eyebrow. She picked up Homura's hand and turned it over, eyeing the dark stone set into her ring. "So you're telling me...the grief sharing cured you somehow?"

"Well, not cured, per say," Homura admitted. "I can still feel...something. I don't know. But I'm not all better. It seems like this may only be a temporary fix."

"But if it helps you with the pain, we should try doing it again," Kyouko argued, letting go of the girl's hand. "Maybe if we do it for long enough, you'll get better."

"Perhaps," Homura murmured, staring at the cushions in thought. "Alright, let's try it." She scooted back and got into a lotus position, closing her eyes and inhaling deeply. Kyouko followed her example, crossing her legs and focusing her mind. It took her a little while to gather her energies, considering the heat she had been dealing with just a minute ago, but she had done grief sharing enough times to be efficient about it. Breathing deeply, she opened her soul, waiting for Homura to meld with hers.

She waited for a full minute.

Nothing.

Kyouko opened her eyes. "Homura?"

The time traveler was still meditating, but her eyes were scrunched tight in agitation. She seemed to be focusing immensely, but after another thirty seconds there were still no results. Finally, Homura let out a huge breath and sagged forward, baring her teeth in frustration. "I can't do it," She muttered.

"What?"

"I can't focus, for some reason," Homura repeated, staring angrily at her ring. "Something's blocking me from crossing that threshold, somehow. If I gather some of the necessary energy, I lose another...it's like my soul is all over the place."

"Maybe you're just tired?" Kyouko suggested. "How did you pull it off a second ago?"

Homura frowned. "I don't know," She said. "It just...sort of happened."

"Maybe it only works when I bite you."

The time traveler blushed. "Unlikely."

They both became absorbed by a thoughtful silence. The two of them thought for a long while, and the longer they thought, the more agitated Homura became. She pressed her face into her hands and sighed, and for a moment she looked tired and defeated again.

"I don't know," She confessed, shaking her head. "No matter how I think about it, it doesn't make any sense. Using magic hurts me. Grief sharing helps me. But what does it all mean? And what does it matter if I can't even grief share voluntarily?"

Kyouko chewed the inside of her mouth, unsure of what she was supposed to do. Homura's problem with not tangible; it was not a literal enemy that she could protect them from. It had no heart that her spear could pierce. Homura's sickness was inside, it was within her; to destroy the sickness was to destroy the girl she loved. It was frustrating to experience, certainly, but even more frustrating to watch, from her point of view. She wished she could do something for Homura, wished she could alleviate the stress and pain, but there really was nothing she could do. And the thought pissed her off.

Exhaling, she reached out and pulled Homura into an embrace.

"I don't know, Homura. I really don't know."

* * *

><p>Two days later, Kyouko decided that the two of them needed to get out; it was the middle of spring break, and without school to force them out the front door every morning, they had mostly been lazing around in the apartment, accomplishing nothing of note. Of course, most of this was due to the fact that Homura lacked the energy to do much else that sit around and read the occasional book.<p>

Even worse, the shield user's condition quickly deteriorated back to its initial state; she had walked around the house full of energy after their grief sharing mishap, and for a while Kyouko had begun to hope that the fix may be permanent after all. But Homura woke up the next morning feeling worse than ever, and though they tried to grief share again, the girl simply couldn't do it. It hurt Kyouko to watch her try and fail so many times; knowing that there was a way to alleviate the suffering, but being unable to achieve it, was the greatest cruelty.

As the days wore on, Homura's disabilities seemed to progress. It took her ages to get down the stairs, and she often went to sleep earlier than usual. She started eating less, taking even more meat off that already rail thin frame. And with how soporific the girl's nature became, Kyouko couldn't find it within herself to initiate anything sexual between them. Not when Homura was so exhausted. It would be selfish of her. There was the possibility that sexual arousal _was_ the only way for Homura to achieve grief sharing again, but the hypothesis sounded ridiculous even in thought, so she didn't bring it up, for fear of starting a conflict.

After all, Homura became increasingly frustrated about her condition as it continued to worsen, the questions multiplied, and the answers eluded her. She still accepted Kyouko's help with grace, but the redhead knew her too well. There was anger beneath the benevolence. Homura hated having to rely on someone else, even if that someone was her.

Nevertheless, Kyouko wasn't going to give up hope. She had lost too many people in her life to not fight for Homura's sake. She had lost her father to her own selfishness. She had lost Mami, for a time, to her sense of pride. To best help Homura, then, she would have to be selfless and humble. She did her best to fill in the roles that the shield user could no longer fulfill. She started making most of the meals, cleaning up around the apartment, keeping up with the news. Homura was very grateful for all these things, but Kyouko could see that it hurt the girl's pride to be bedridden for most of the day. Homura was someone who needed to do things on her own. Relying on someone else all the time was never something the shield user could do.

But Kyouko didn't want to lose her. So she had to choose.

Kyouko blinked and looked to her side, spun out of her thoughts when she saw Homura sway in place beside her. She reached out and grabbed the girl's elbow to steady her. "Hey, don't push yourself," She muttered. "If you feel sick we can-"

"I'm fine, Kyouko," Homura grumbled, slipping her arm out of the redhead's grasp. Kyouko frowned at her, but otherwise said nothing more. Reaching out, she pressed the doorbell in front of her.

The door swung open a moment later, and Mishki's head poked out the small opening. "Oh, hey there," She greeted them, opening the door all the way. "Here for a little visit? Where are Mami and Kiku?"

"Mami had a job interview, or something," Kyouko said, stepping into the apartment. "She took Kiku along."

Understanding dawned on the guide's face. "Ah...so it's the fifteenth already, huh? I must have forgotten. Well, hopefully it goes well." Turning, she ushered them into the living room. "So, how have the two of your been? You haven't been keeping your neighbors up at night, have you?"

Homura would have reddened, but she simply lacked the energy. Kyouko laughed drily. "What do you take us for, Mishki?"

"Teenagers," The woman said bluntly.

Homura hurried over to the table and took a seat; her legs were starting to tire, and it would have been embarrassing to fall on her behind in front of Mishki. Kyouko noticed this but didn't point it out, for which she was glad. She had asked the redhead not to mention her sickness to other people, at least for now.

"Oh, that reminds me," Mishki said suddenly. "The twins are in the kitchen, Homura. Four has been telling me recently that she really wants to talk to you."

The shield user frowned, gripping the back of her chair. The setting sun cast a dark light through the room. "Why?"

The guide shrugged. "Hell if I know. Kids are a mystery, and those two are no exception." Homura turned her gaze towards the kitchen, apparently dismayed at the prospect of having to get up and walk somewhere else. Sighing heftily, she dragged herself out of the chair and pushed the swinging door aside, calling out quietly for the twins. Kyouko and Mishki watched her go, the guide frowning to herself.

"Is she alright?" The woman asked, gesturing towards the door. "She looks really tired. Did something happen?"

"Ah..." Kyouko bit her lip, considering her next words. Her eyes glued themselves to a small clock hung up on the wall, its miniature pendulum gravitating back and forth. It reminded her of another pendulum, and bigger one, but that one didn't swing anymore. It was still, cold, dead. "I guess something did happen. Look, I want to ask you about something..."

* * *

><p>Kiku really didn't want to be here.<p>

She was sitting in a waiting room next to Mami, in a small plastic chair pressed up against the wall like a criminal who had his hands cuffed behind his back. A multitude of other people occupied the room as well, of various ages and walks of life. But she wasn't interested in any of them at the moment; no, she was too busy stewing inside.

Mami shifted excitedly.

"Do you think they'll be nice?" She asked in a hushed, nervous voice.

Kiku sighed internally.

"I'm sure they will be," She said, not even bothering to whisper. Her voice drew a few looks, and Mami swatted her arm in embarrassment, but she could care less.

Kiku didn't know why she had ever agreed to come with Mami. The blonde had popped the question like she always did, and she had been more than ready to decline once again, but the blonde had been particularly enthusiastic this time, and she hadn't found it within herself to refuse. She had regretted that moment of weakness during the entire train ride into the inner city, and she was regretting it now, sitting in this stuffy room filled with equally stuffy people who were all vying for the same job that Mami wanted. Taking a moment, she cast a brief glance at all of Mami's supposed rivals. None of them seemed to match up to the blonde, and the thought irritated her.

The door behind her opened, and a voice called out for the next person to come in. Kiku didn't even bother looking. Mami kept shifting nervously beside her, but for once the brunette took no interest in her. She was too busy feeling bitter.

She passed fifteen minutes like that.

Soon enough, the man who had been called in a moment ago came out of the interrogation room again, looking rather dejected. That wasn't good. As Kiku watched his broad back dwindling down the hall, the secretary ran her eyes down the list on her clipboard. Kiku wondered if Mami was going to replace her, if she got the job.

"Tomoe Mami-san?" The woman inquired, looking around the room. The girl in question shot up to her feet, and Kiku simply sighed again as she followed Mami to the door, stopping when her shoes poked the threshold.

"Wish me luck," Mami whispered, winking at her. Kiku forced a smile and winked back, her eyes wandering into the room beyond the blonde...

...falling into contact with the purple irises of Junko Kaname.

There was a moment of profound silence as the two of them noticed each other. Kiku simply stared, effectively dumbfounded, but the older woman recovered quickly and flashed a recognizing smile. But the grin quickly slipped off her lipstick clad mouth, as her violet eyes slipped to Mami, then back to Kiku, then to Mami again.

And in that moment, Kiku knew that Junko understood.

Mami stepped fully into the room, and the secretary murmured a polite word before grabbing the handle and pulling the door closed. Kiku maintained eye contact the whole time, and just before the door closed completely, she thought she saw Junko wink at her.

Then the lock clicked in her face, and she was alone.

She would have stood there for eternity, but the next person in line muttered something snide to the back of her head, so she left the building as quickly as she could.

* * *

><p>"She's <em>sick<em>?" Mishki asked, her eyes widening.

"Well, that's just what we're calling it," Kyouko said sheepishly, hunching over a mug. "We don't know what it is, really. We've been trying to figure it out for weeks now, and she's probably had the problem for months."

"This is...very disturbing," The guide said, narrowing her eyes. "Are you sure it's entirely magic related?"

"It has to be," Kyouko said darkly, staring into her cup. "Remember those headaches she kept getting? They were caused by the magic she was using to improve her eyesight. She's back to glasses now, like you saw. It wasn't just purely a fashion decision."

"Goodness..." Mishki leaned back in her chair, brooding over this revelation. "And she tried to hide this from you?"

Kyouko pursed her lips. "At first," She admitted. "But I found out when she collapsed in the kitchen, right before I got home. She tried using magic to test herself, and it ended up knocking her out for the rest of the day."

Mishki pressed her fist to her mouth, the gears in her head turning. Kyouko remained silent, giving the woman time to process the information. She knew she was breaking her promise to Homura by spilling all of this to the guide, but she felt that she had to. Homura had too much pride to admit she needed help.

"So what did you hope to accomplish by telling me this?" Mishki said at last, crossing her arms over her chest. "I can't imagine Homura would approve of you letting me in on her secret."

Kyouko clasped her hands together, leaning forward to put more gravitas to her words.

"You've been around more than anyone else I know," She said. "And when it comes to magic, you probably know more than anyone I could possibly ask right now. So what I'm asking is, have you seen anything like this before? Does it resemble anything you've ever encountered?"

Mishki stared down at the tablecloth and thought about it, her lip jutting out as she dove within the tumultuous seas of her memory. Kyouko waited tensely, hoping for some sort of definitive answer. Finally, the guide exhaled loudly through her nose.

"I'm sorry, Kyouko," She professed, "But I can't think of anything that is very close to what Homura is struggling with. The closest example I can remember is actually Tayoshi, and you already know all about her."

Kyouko steepled her fingers together on table, pressing her forehead against her outlaid thumbs.

"Yeah," She murmured. "I do."

A sympathetic look crossed Mishki's face, and she grasped the redhead's shoulder. "Setting Homura aside, how you taking this? It can't be easy, watching her struggle through every hour like that."

But Kyouko shook her head. "I'm not important right now," She said. "What's important is figuring out what's wrong with Homura, and figuring out a way to fix it."

Mishki smiled wanly. "That is very true," She said, "But don't throw yourself into the fire so soon. The two of you will just end up burning up together. As sick as Homura may be, she must be worried about you, too."

"Why?" Kyouko grunted, rubbing at her eyes. "Because I'm possessive? Because I'm scared of losing any more people I care about? Is that really a substantial reason?"

She expected some affirmative answer from the guide, as that would have conformed with her personality, but instead the woman sighed, a slow, drawn out sound. "Perhaps," She said, with surprising ambiguity. "It depends."

Kyouko balled her fists and stared angrily at the table as Mishki sipped at her drink. Finally, the guide set the mug down and motioned for the redhead's attention.

"I might not have seen enough of the world to help you," She said, "But I might have met someone who can. There are a number of girls in Kazamino who specialize in healing abnormalities of both the body and the soul. You met many of them before the battle at the Church, but I don't expect you to recall their names...either way, I can call Seiyaku and ask her to bring one of them here, for a brief visit. I can't promise anything, but it may provide us some answers."

Kyouko blinked at the guide, then bowed her head.

"Thank you," She said earnestly. Mishki smiled and ruffled the redhead's hair.

"You're welcome," She said. "I hate to see the two of you unhappy. You guys are the most successful pairing I've seen in a long time."

"Pairing?" Kyouko asked, tracing the outline of her cup.

"I've seen a lot of girls get together in my time," Mishki said, winking slyly. "And, well, most of the match ups don't work out. Maybe it's the extreme nature of being a magical girl, maybe it's something else I can't see. But most relationships between mahou shoujo go south pretty quickly. But you and Homura are different. You two feel more solid. I guess you could say I'm rooting for you."

Kyouko smiled and looked down at the table. "It must suck to be as old as you."

"What are you talking about? We're only three years apart!"

"Feels like three decades."

Mishki was about to retort something indignant when the doorbell rank, cutting her off.

"It's open!" She called out, and someone turned the handle, pushing the door aside.

Kiku poked her head nervously into the apartment.

"Oh, hey," Mishki greeted her, as Kyouko suddenly became very interested in her drink. "I thought you were at an interview with Mami?"

"Didn't feel like being around," The illusionist muttered, closing the door behind her. "Mind if I hang out here for a bit?"

"Sure," Mishki agreed readily. "Homura's in the kitchen with the twins, if you're looking for her."

"Thanks," Kiku said, heading for the door in question. She accidentally made eye contact with Kyouko in passing, and paused in her footsteps. "Hey," She said.

Kyouko eyed her for a moment. "Hey."

Kiku frowned at her, looking like she was going to say something more, but turned and entered the kitchen instead.

As Kyouko returned pointedly to finishing her drink, Mishki sighed in exasperation. "The young and their problems."

"Whatever, grandma."

"Now look here you little-"

Homura was leaning against the kitchen counter when Kiku slipped in discreetly through the door, trying not to disturb the atmosphere. The twins were both sitting in high stools across from the time traveler, and Four was excitedly attempting to explain something to her, and Homura stared back with carefully veiled confusion.

"You gave me superpowers, Homu-nee-chan!" The child insisted, waving her tiny fist around in the air.

"Sure I did," Homura sighed.

"I mean it! You gave me a cup fixing power!"

"I hear you."

"What are you guys talking about?" Kiku asked, coming up behind Homura. She looped one arm around the girl and gave her a friendly hug, then hung there, not retracting her arm.

"Superpowers!" Four exclaimed, waving her hands grandiosely.

"Wow," Kiku agreed. Then Homura seemed to wheeze beside her, and she hunched over under the weight of the brunette's arm.

"That's great and all," The shield user muttered, "But I can barely stand as it is, so would you mind not making it more difficult for me?"

"Huh? Oh, shit. Sorry," Kiku apologized, taking her arm away. Homura nodded curtly and rubbed at her shoulder, then straightened out her spine, but simply hunched again afterwards. The illusionist watched her the whole time, the suspicion evident in her eyes.

"Don't ask," Homura muttered.

"I won't," Kiku promised. "But...if you need someone to talk to, I'm here."

"Yes, I am perfectly aware of your presence."

"Pah. Well, you've got Kyouko anyway."

"Yes," Homura muttered. "I most certainly do."

Kiku blinked, confused by the dark undertones of those words, but did not press the issue. She settled with breaking out some snacks and chatting up the twins, since they both seemed a little upset about being left out of the conversation. Homura sighed and stared off into the distance in the meantime, her eyes clouding over in thought, or perhaps exhaustion.

"So, tell me," The time traveler rasped abruptly, "We aren't you waiting for Mami's interview to end?"

Kiku smiled, handing Five another cookie. "Because I think she's going to get it."

"So what? Is that it? Do you just give up?"

The brunette looked at Homura. "Why are you getting mad?"

"I'm not mad," Homura muttered, leaning against the counter for support. "But you're shooting yourself in the foot again, as usual. Do you realize that half your problems are self induced?"

Kiku frowned disapprovingly. "Yes, Homura. I do."

"Then why won't you do anything about them?" The girl snapped, her voice sounding raw and overused.

Kiku narrowed her eyes at the counter. "See, you are mad."

Homura sighed for what felt like the hundredth time. She took a moment to compose herself. "Okay, I apologize for that," She allowed. "I've just been...tired lately. And the answer to your question is staring you right in the face, while I'm still trying to figure out if my even exists."

"You sound like an old man."

Homura closed her eyes. "I feel like one."

Kiku exhaled slowly. "Say," She said, leaning away from the counter for a moment. "Let me show you something." She picked up a small metal tube, no bigger then her pinky finger, that was sitting on the windowsill. Then she rummaged through the dishes until she found a little plastic plate that had a transparent lid on it. Reaching her hand out, she beckoned to Homura. "Give me your hand."

The time traveler frowned back at her, considering being a bad sport and refusing, but the brunette didn't look to be in an accommodating mood either, so she wordlessly raised her arm. Kiku took her hand and pressed the metal tube to her ring, murmuring a few words under her breath. Homura's gut wrenched when she felt the tug of magic in the room, but it faded out as soon as it came. Kiku dropped the tube into the palm sized glass plated and closed the lid, placing the entire thing on the counter.

Homura eyed the little metal tube with disdain. "Am I supposed to be impressed?"

"I don't know," Kiku shrugged. "Try moving around."

The idea sounded atrocious, but she forced herself to do it anyway, dragging her tired body across the kitchen. Much to her surprise, the tube switched positions, rolling across the surface of the glass plate until it pressed against the transparent wall, pointing straight at Homura.

"I enchanted it with the illusion that it's your loyal dog," Kiku said tiredly, cupping her chin and staring boringly at the tube. "This little stick of metal now believes it's been your faithful pet for years. It will always try to reunite with you, until I undo the magic, or I die."

Homura frowned at the little tube, which was shivering as it rattled against the glass in its desire to meet with her. "That is...oddly creepy."

"Not so much. If I cancel the spell I'd need your gem again to recast it. You could even refuse to be detected by my magic, since you are aware of it. I just wanted to show this to you."

"Why?"

Kiku picked up the plate and turned it over in her hands, watching the metal tube buzz around inside, clinking off the sides. The twins watched in fascination. "In order for me to cast illusions, I need to understand what I want my subject to feel. I can't put an image in their head that I don't comprehend myself, which is why I can't make people think life sized dragons are chasing them, or that their legs are on fire, because I have never experienced those things. It's just how my magic works."

That explained a few things, Homura thought. There had been times, such as in Kazamino, where she had wondered why Kiku didn't make more combat use out of her magic.

The brunette sneered at the metal tube, and tossed it back onto the counter. "So you understand, then, that to cast the illusion of the faithful dog, I had to understand that sensation. And I do, I really do. I feel like Mami's dog sometimes. I almost always go along with what she wants; I act out sometimes, but it's only because I want attention. If she's happy, I'm happy. The parallels go on."

Homura didn't say a word. She didn't know what she could have even said, if she tried.

Kiku sighed, and it sounded very close to how Homura had learned to sigh. "I guess I'm trying to say that my situation isn't as black and white as you think it is," She said. "You might have bigger problems, but my problems are still problems, et cetera...I'm sure you've heard this from other people before. But I still feel like I need to say it, even if it's pointless."

The shield user snorted, and the illusionist glanced at her through the corner of her eye.

"You say that even though it's pointless," Homura said, "But you can't tell Mami how you feel, for the very same reason. Don't be a hypocrite."

"So the person who told me to 'instigate' is now telling me it's pointless, after all?" Kiku growled, glaring at her.

Homura knew where this was headed, and she didn't care. She was tired of this. If they were going to fight, then let them fight. She was beyond giving a damn about her surroundings. Her body was tired, her mind was tired, and her soul was utterly exhausted. Maybe a good argument would refresh her.

"It's up to you to decide if it's pointless or not," She sneered. "And you know what, I think you decided that it is, a long time ago. You entertain the fantasy of being with Mami, but you can never achieve it. Why do you love her, anyway? She does nothing but hurt you on a daily basis. It _stresses_ you when we talk about her. Can you really call that love? How do you know that you aren't just enamored with the illusion of her?"

"Hey," Kiku said, her voice a warning tone. "You don't have to say bad things about Mami. She has nothing to do with this."

"Oh, please. She has everything to do with this," Homura hissed. Her ugly side was showing, she could feel it. The side that was cold, uncaring, unfeeling. The side that Kyouko had buried for her, but it was now resurfacing with a vengeance. "I might have even known her longer than you, and since the day we met she's been nothing but trouble. My life would have been much simpler without her in it!"

"This isn't about your life!" Kiku shouted, leaping out of her stool. The twins weren't stunned into silence, watching the battle unfold with a word. "This is about my life! You're the one who always tells me not to ask what's wrong with you. Why can't you do the same for me? Why can't you try to _understand_?"

"You're the one who always comes to me with your problems," Homura said. She was starting to breathe harder than normal; she was overexerting herself. "I never asked to be a part of any of this. It is of no concern to me whether Mami returns your feelings or not."

"Then you should have sent my ass back home the first time I asked you about it," Kiku snarled back. "You can't feed a beggar and then kick him back out onto the street. 'Don't be a hypocrite,' right?"

"If you're so dissatisfied with me, then maybe you should just leave," Homura said hideously, loading as much poison into her words as possible.

Kiku flinched at the girl's scathing tone. "Fine," She muttered, grabbing her things. "I _will_." She kicked the door aside and stormed towards the front entrance, ignoring Mishki's shouted question concerning what the hell was going on. She tore the door open and slammed it shut behind her, rattling the frame for several seconds afterwards.

Mishki switched her gaze to the kitchen door, which had been blown aside, staring at Homura with utterly confused eyes. The shield user met her gaze for a moment before shaking her head, the fatigue rushing back all at once. Her anger had energized for her but a moment, and now she had only the aftermath as a reward. Kyouko jumped out of her chair and ran over as Homura fell back against the counter, breathing heavily as cold sweat broke out over her forehead.

"Jesus, Homura," The redhead murmured, catching the girl by her shoulders and straightening her up. "What happened?"

Homura finished replaying the argument in her head and groaned in response, pinching the bridge of her nose. Her head hurt. "I don't know. But she must be pretty mad at me right now," She said blandly.

Mishki slipped past them and ushered the twins out. Four looked to be on the verge of tears, and the sight made Homura feel guilty.

Kyouko sighed and let Homura use her as a leaning pole, rubbing the feeling back into the girl's hands. "You shouldn't have done that to her, Homura."

"Since when do you care?" The time traveler muttered.

The redhead frowned at her. "Maybe I don't," She admitted. "But think about it. Besides Mami, you're the only one she's got. She and I don't talk, and Mishki can't be there all the time. The twins could never understand. You're the only one, Homura. The only person on her side. And you just kicked her out of the house."

Homura stared stubbornly at the floor, at the tiles crisscrossing the floor, the walls, the world, her heart.

"What the hell does she see in that girl?" She muttered.

Kyouko laughed softly, hugging the time traveler close to her body. "Love is love, I guess. It isn't our place to question it. We can only wish them the best, really."

Homura closed her eyes and sighed, thinking back to the argument again. She had known going into it that she was going to feel terribly about it later, but she hadn't expected it to happen this quickly.

"I suppose I should go apologize," She sighed.

Kyouko nodded. "I'll go with you," She said, helping Homura to her feet.

* * *

><p>Kiku hadn't really had a location in mind when she ran out the door, so she went to where her mind naturally led her.<p>

That was, Mami's apartment.

She stumbled in through the door, tossing her things vaguely at the couch. She crossed over to the refrigerator and hit it, splitting her knuckles on the unforgiving stainless chrome. Then she screamed, as loudly as she could, running her throat raw, the sound ringing off the walls of the apartment and coming back to assault her ears.

Eventually she ran out of steam, and she could think straight, sort of.

She had nobody now. Homura had been the last person she could really confide in, and now she was gone. The world became such a small place when you were supposed to be dead; the number of people who could freely associate with had literally been reduced to seven. And of those seven, she was on good terms with three, and two of them were children and the other was a businesswoman she hardly ever ran into.

She went over to the fridge and punched it again, but this time she screamed more quietly. Anger was a finite resource of energy. Breathing heavily, she considering turning on the shower and taking one freezing cold.

Then, at the worst possible time, Mami came home.

Kiku heard the front door opening but didn't turn to face her, not wanting to see the blonde's expression. She remained completely still, standing in the middle of the kitchen as she heard Mami's footsteps in the anteroom. Her gaze wandered out through the sliding window, and fixated on something poking out from the corner of the balcony. Something with square corners, worn pages.

Her notebook.

Walking almost without thinking, not unlike a zombie, she pushed the door aside and stooped down to her knees, picking the little booklet up from the ground. It had been mildly punished by the elements overnight, but the drawings inside were still as vibrant and humiliating as ever. Her fantasies, incarnate.

She hated every single page.

The footsteps left the anteroom and entered the living room, coming to a stop behind her. Still Kiku didn't turn around, instead clutching the notebook to her chest.

It was silent like that for a long time. It always was.

Mami broke it first.

"Why didn't you wait for me?" She asked. It was asked patiently, but to Kiku it sounded accusatory. A deep, deep frown cut into her jaw, and at that moment something inside her turned black.

"I didn't feel like it," She said.

Kiku couldn't see, but she could imagine the disapproval on Mami's face easily enough. "So, what, you just...left?"

"Is there a problem with that?"

"I thought something might have happened to you!" Mami exclaimed. "I looked all over, worried out of my mind, before someone told me they saw you going back home. I was worried sick, Kiku!"

"Well, I'm fine, so it's all fine, right?"

Mami paused, taken aback by the girl's uncaring responses. "What's gotten into you?" She asked irritably. "You haven't even asked me how the interview went..."

"Do you really want me to?" Kiku said sardonically, making her meaning rather obvious. When there was just a stunned silence behind her, she asked, "So, how did the interview go?"

There was a guilty silence behind her. It was enough of an answer for her. But Mami gave her more.

"I...didn't get it," The blonde muttered bitterly. "I don't understand. Kaname-san told me that I would have done very well in that position, but then she rejected me right after she said that. She told me that I have a different job, a better one, waiting for me. Just what is that supposed to mean?"

So Junko _had_ understood. Just with that tiny snapshot of her life, the woman had figured everything out. She really was an incredible individual, and a gracious one, to go out of her way to help the illusionist. But Kiku was afraid her efforts were wasted.

"Maybe if you would just look, you'd understand her," Kiku muttered, crushing the notebook between her fingers.

Mami narrowed her eyes. "What's wrong with you? Why are you being like this?"

"About time you asked," Kiku spat, finally standing and turning to face her. The blonde blinked when she saw the anger in the brunette's eyes. "About god damn time, Mami. Do you really want me to tell you? Do you actually want to find out, or do you not really care?"

"What are you talking about?" Mami asked, frowning in confusion. "Kiku, what's going on?"

"I'm trying to tell you what's going on!" The brunette yelled, making the blonde flinch back. Somehow, seeing that gave her confidence. "I've been trying to tell you for months. But you never listen! Every time I try to tell you something actually important, you cut me off!"

"Alright, fine!" Mami interrupted her, crossing her arms over her chest. "What is it that you've been wanting to tell me? I'm listening!"

"Well it doesn't matter _now_," Kiku sneered. "As if you'd get excited about a stupid cafe when we're like _this_."

"Kiku, you aren't making any sense," Mami said sternly. She tried to grab the brunette's flailing wrists, but she wrenched them free.

"No, stop it! I'm tired of being your faithful dog! You never let me do _anything_. You're like my mother, and I've got to convince you to let me walk to the damn grocery store. You won't let me mingle with ordinary people, you won't let me help you find a job...I'm tired of being your doll!"

"What...Kiku, you know why I do those things," Mami bristled. "There are things we have to do to make sure you're safe! Or did you expect life to be easy when you're dead to the world?"

"I don't want to be safe," Kiku snarled. "I want to live! I want to go out, I want yellow chairs, green walls, trees, grass, a backyard, everything!"

"Fine then," Mami said, and for the first time she seemed to be truly angry. "If you hate it here so much, why don't you leave and do whatever you want?"

Kiku bared her teeth, fighting back tears. "I can't do that. I couldn't ever do that."

"And why not?"

"Because I-"

* * *

><p>"Are you sure about this? We can come back tomorrow if you're too tired."<p>

"For the thousandth time, I'm fine. I want to take care of this today."

Kyouko pursed her lips, and made to ring the doorbell.

_"I hate you!"_

Kyouko froze.

A second later, the door was kicked open, and Kiku bolted out from the other side. Unfortunately, she ran straight into Homura, whose weak stance wasn't nearly enough to keep her from tumbling to the ground. Kiku looked into the shield user's eyes in horror, then picked herself up and ran in the opposite direction, heading towards the trees.

"Kiku!" Homura shouted, trying to stand up, but her legs gave out beneath her. Kyouko tried to help her up, but she shoved her off, pointing at the illusionist's rapidly receding back. "Kyouko, go after her!"

"_What?_"

"Please!"

Kyouko stared at Kiku's fleeing form, then sighed in defeat. She turned and peeked into the apartment, making eye contact with a stunned Mami. "Look after her!" She shouted, pointing at Homura. Then she took off after Kiku, sprinting as fast as her legs would allow her, a trail of crimson sparks fizzing in her wake.

Soon enough, they were both out of sight.

A moment later, Mami burst into tears.

* * *

><p><strong>It is super late as I write this, so I don't really know how good this actually is. As always, I would appreciate it if you told me your thoughts.<strong>

**As a side note, I think either chapter 30 or 31 will be M rated. We'll see.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Banshee**


	29. Fiery Destiny

Chapter 29: Fiery Destiny

Homura didn't believe in coincidences. If one there was one thing living through a thousand timelines had taught her, it was that almost everything happened for a reason. Why else did Mami always die, Kyouko always sacrifice herself, and Madoka always elude the very tips of her fingers? No, it had to be fate. It was a painful thing to think about, because it meant that she had never been meant to save Madoka; no, the girl had to save herself, in the end.

Then again, as she shakily forced herself to stand up by grabbing onto the side of the doorframe of Mami's apartment, Homura knew that this wasn't entirely a coincidence, either. There was a reason why she was here, watching Mami quietly sob to herself, kneeling somberly on the cold wooden floor where she had collapsed. There was a clear cute purpose to all this. There had to be.

Closing her eyes, she took a deep, shuddering breath before attempting to move again. It was strange, but for some reason she felt weaker than she already was, as if Kyouko absence had drained all the strength from her bones. But that didn't make any sense. She needed some concrete reason to exert herself; otherwise her logical side would kick in again, and she would likely settle for rotting away on the floor again.

Anger. That would suffice.

Lifting her eyelids, the girl's irises flashing with a sort of wild light, Homura took several more steps into the apartment, keeping one hand to the wall for support. She walked until she was standing in front of Mami, the blonde still staring quietly at the floor, her frail looking shoulders shaking slightly with the remnants of her tears. Homura thought that she looked horribly similar to her hospital days. Whenever Kiku left her in some way, the blonde became a wreck. The thought made the shield user sneer. If Mami needed the brunette so badly, why the hell couldn't she treat the girl better?

Letting go of the wall, she squatted in front of Mami and pushed her on the shoulder. "Get, up, Mami."

The girl remained silent, but shook her head in response. The sun seemed to be hiding behind a wall of brooding clouds; the entire room looked gray and lifeless, even the fat tears that were staining the hardwood floor, as if the blonde were weeping dust. Gray, insubstantial, dust.

Homura narrowed her eyes at being refused, feeling a fresh wave of anger rising inside her chest. She would have to hold fast to that anger; it was the only thing that could give her the strength to do what had to be done. Reaching up with both hands, she grabbed Mami by both shoulders, shaking her more strongly this time. "I said get up, Mami."

When the blonde tried to shirk away from her, Homura bared her teeth and hauled her senior up with the strength of her arms alone. Mami gasped at being handled so roughly, but the shield user ignored the noise, too busy also ignoring the searing pain in the exhausted arms. Balling her fists up in Mami's collar, Homura shook her once, as hard as she could.

"I said," She whispered, "_Get up."_

Mami looked sorrowfully up at her, but the time traveler felt zero pity for her. The blonde had no one to blame but herself. Baring her teeth, Homura abruptly let go of the blonde, the girl stumbling backwards at the unexpected move, almost falling back to the floor again. But she never had the chance, because Homura knelt and picked up Kiku's notebook, then seized her by the wrist and started dragging them both to the front door.

"Where-" Mami's voice choked on her tear thickened throat, and she had to swallow before trying again. "Where are you taking me?"

Homura paused as her free hand wrapped around the handle, and the blonde flinched when she turned and glared back at her.

"To the future," She muttered, pushing the door open. "You have an offer to accept."

* * *

><p>Homura did not speak another word to Mami afterwards. She was deathly silent as she dragged the two of them out of the apartment and down the steps, stonily hailing a cab that she all but tossed the blonde into. She was similarly mute during the subsequent car ride, staring angrily out the window at something Mami could not distinguish, but was too scared to ask about. The world was terrifying around her now, and Homura was a like a raging beast with the waves of anger she was emanating from her person. Even when she glanced at the shield user's ring, she saw an enraged, flickering light, but it also looked fragile, like it could come apart at any moment.<p>

_"__I hate you!"_

It was the first time in recent memory that anyone had said that to her. Perhaps the first time ever, in retrospect. The words had seemed to ring inside her head, crashing around against the walls of her skull like a loose bullet, striking her numb. Then the girl had turned and fled, running like the apartment was infected by the plague, putting another ounce of hell into Mami's heart with every step she took.

Why had Kiku said that to her? From Mami's perspective, the fight had come out of nowhere; the brunette was rarely in a bad mood, if ever, and even when she was it usually passed easily. In all the years the two of them had been friends, Mami had never seen Kiku react in this way. And the new discovery scared her. It felt like the world around her wasn't so secure anymore, like there were more secrets about herself that she had yet to realize. And Mami hated secrets.

Something seemed to be poking at her ribcage, and Mami put a hand to her chest to find that her heart was beating wildly beneath it. The realization only made her breathing quicken; she was terrified. Why? They were in no immediate danger, and the adrenaline from the argument should have filtered out of her system by now. So why, then, was her heart beating like she had just been running for her life?

_"__I hate you!"_

She was scared, she realized, because what she had thought to be the truth was now revealed to be the lie. As the blonde watched the drab road sweep by through her window, she thought that the part that bothered her the most was that she didn't understand why Kiku was acting this way. Not only that, but the friendship she had thought they had, the connection she had come to assume would always be there, didn't seem so sure anymore. It scared her to think that perhaps her reality was but an illusion. She needed security, she needed to _know_; yet here she was, wallowing within a mystery. The fight was one thing, but to not know why it had happened, to be at a complete loss as to what had contributed to Kiku's anger, was the true terror.

She didn't know, and it was horrible.

The cab came to an abrupt stop, and Mami looked up to see that they were parked in front of the train station. A loud click sounded to her right, and she glanced over to see that Homura had hastily paid the cab driver already and was now walking around the back of the car, briskly pulling the blonde's door open herself.

"Don't fall asleep on me," Homura said bluntly, reaching in and yanking the girl out of her seat. She slammed the door closed and waved almost dismissively at the cab, not even turning to watch it shift gears and drive away. Sticking one hand out, she grabbed Mami's wrist and led them both into the station, keeping a secure grip on the girl the entire way.

"Ah...Akemi-san," Mami said feebly, feeling the time traveler's harsh fingers leaving the beginnings of bruises on her skin. "It's okay. You don't have to hold on to me so tightly-"

"Yes, I do," Homura interrupted her, voice almost seething. "You're a runner, Mami, a bloody coward. If I let you follow me on your own volition, nothing will ever be fixed. It's time for me to take things into my own hands."

Great, so now Homura was angry at her too. After some brief consideration, Mami realized that she didn't know the cause of this girl's anger, either. Everyone was hideously upset and she had absolutely no idea why. So she remained shamefully silent as they stood in line in front of the ticket booth, never again complaining about the painful fingers around her arm as Homura at last reached the front of the line and requested two tickets for the fastest train to central Mitakihara.

They stood beside each other on the platform ten minutes later, almost choking on the lack of words present between them. There were a few other people waiting on opposite ends of the platform with them, but otherwise they were completely alone; the trains were usually this empty at this time of day. But it made Mami wish that it were the middle of rush hour instead, so that perhaps there would have been some hustle and bustle to fill the deafening silence. It was quiet that she could hear her cells splitting.

As a distant rumble from the deep end of the tunnel signaled the train's arrival, Mami shifted uncomfortably and turned to Homura. "Akemi-san, could you please tell me what is going on?"

"Once we're on the train," The girl said calmly, but Mami could sense the agitation beneath her words, barely restrained.

"Why not now?"

Homura pursed her lips, which ratcheted the blonde's heart rate up a bit more.

"It's harder to run from a moving train."

Mami would have gaped at those words, but the train zoomed in from the tunnel and blasted past them a moment later, its gravity engines bringing the machine to a smooth, noiseless stop. As the steam powered doors hissed aside to admit their entry, Homura set her jaw and led them both inside the first car, purposefully choosing one that the few other passengers wouldn't be in. She needed the two of them to be alone; she didn't envy the thought of yelling in front of strangers.

It was cold inside the train car, the air conditioning turned up to combat the rising temperatures. That was good; it would keep her awake. Her mind was starting to swim, and her hands were losing their once strong grip on Mami's wrist. Her strength was waning. She needed to finish this as briefly as she could.

Though when it came to Mami, things usually became excruciatingly drawn out.

Homura stood still where she was, leaning her back against the windows of the chrome doors, as if waiting for something to happen. A minute later, the gentle hum of gravity engines powering up told her that the train was preparing to move again, and after a moment's patience, the platform began to slip away. But Homura still waited, and only when the train had completely entered the tunnel did she release Mami at last, exhaling in relief. Her arm had been burning from the strain.

Mami lifted her now freed arm and rubbed at it gingerly, frowning at the angry red marked that glared back up at her. She felt a little insulted that Homura was so convinced that she going to run away the first chance she got. She wasn't that much of a coward. She didn't consider herself a coward at all, actually. The blonde didn't know what Homura was planning to do, but she doubted it would be so terrible that she would be tempted to flee.

Homura sighed and pushed herself off the train door, crossing the aisle so that she could gingerly lean into a seat right beneath the air vent. Mami frowned at the girl's back as she moved; the shield user's movements were slow, sluggish, and not in a deliberate fashion. Her movements were almost...soporific. Like she was barely clinging on to consciousness. Homura cleared her throat and made eye contact with the blonde, discreetly waving at the seat beside her. Mami frowned at the offered seat, thinking that something terrible actually would happen to her if she sat in it, but internally gave in. Crossing the aisle, she quietly sat next to Homura.

But even then, the younger girl refused to speak. Instead she stared at the opposite wall, her eyes hard and unforgiving, and most of all not inviting any sort of conversation. Mami could only shiver when the air vent blasted cold air down her spine, and glance nervously from side to side at the completely empty train car. If Homura's intention was to confront her physically, this would be the time. There were no witnesses.

Nevertheless, she was beginning to be lulled into a stupor by the gentle bobbing of the gravity powered train, when Homura at last chose to break her silence.

"Do you know why she ran away from you?" The shield user asked, still burning two holes into the opposite wall with her eyes.

Mami started at the unexpected question, having fully expected to make the entire ride in complete silence. Taking a moment to process the inquiry, she blinked and then sagged, her spine noticeably folding in on itself. She looked away from the time traveler and muttered a single, sour, "No."

"I didn't think you would," Homura sneered, still sounding scathing when her voice lacked the energy and power it usually had. "That's just like you, Mami. Any outsider would assume you to be the kindest and most accommodating of the four of us, but the truth is that you are actually the cruelest among us all."

Mami narrowed her eyes at the poorly veiled insult, gripping the end of her armrest a little tighter. "What makes you say that, Akemi-san? Why are you suddenly being like this? I can't remember the last time you cared to involve yourself with me."

Homura snorted quietly. "You're right. I really don't care about what you do," She said, her honesty a weapon in itself. "And drop the formalities. It doesn't sound polite at all, coming from you."

The older girl blinked, caught off guard by the request. It had become her habit to address most people formally, as she found that it endeared herself to them. No one had ever asked her to ignore formalities for anything other than a positive reason.

"Very well, _Homura,_" Mami said with some difficulty. "If you care so little for me, why are we here?"

The girl in question brought Kiku's notebook up in the air and slammed it back down on the armrest, assaulting the blonde's ears and making her resist the urge to flinch.

"Because I am _angry,_ Mami Tomoe," She growled. She raised the notebook as if she planned to slam it again, but thought better of it and set it down beside her. "I am angry because you're such a complete and utter _fool_. Not that I wasn't aware of that already, of course, but your stupidity has finally overstepped its bounds. You have hurt someone I consider to be a friend, and I'm tired of sitting by and letting her suffer."

Mami narrowed her eyes, wondering who the shield user could be referring to. "You don't..." Her voice trailed off. "You don't mean Kiku, do you?" She asked, eyes widening.

Homura laughed drily at the blonde's surprise. "Who else could I be talking about? She and I have grown much closer during the past few months. Or perhaps you haven't noticed? She is a very nice girl, Mami. You're lucky to have her."

"I..." Mami murmured, still grappling with the shock. No, she hadn't been aware. She hadn't been aware at all.

"Of course, she has her own problems, and I've grown tired of hearing about them," Homura continued, tapping her finger along the spine of her notebook. The graviton engines hummed lowly beneath their feet, making it feel like the room was filled with ghosts. Dark city buildings flashed past them outside, and the setting sun bled quietly in through the windows. "I'm sure she's tried to tell you too, but you probably weren't listening, were you?"

"Stop beating around the bush," Mami snapped, standing up from her seat. "You keep acting like I ought to know-"

"Oh, I would _love_ to!" Homura hissed, rearing her head back and meeting Mami's eyes with her own smoldering pair. The blonde inhaled sharply at the rage she met there. "And you know what, I think Kiku would prefer that just as much, if not more! You've been forcing her to 'beat around the bush' for _ages_. You always feel the need to interrupt people, just like you are now, and if you would just shut up and _listen_ for a second then none of this would have happened!"

"What..." Mami stared back at the girl, at a loss for words.

The fire seemed to fade from Homura's eyes then, and she sagged back into her chair, leaning down to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Sit down, Mami," She murmured.

The blonde stared for a moment longer, then obliged, retaking her seat. Once she did, Homura picked up Kiku's notebook and tossed it onto Mami's lap, still clutching her head like she was suffering from a terrible headache.

"What is this?" Mami asked suspiciously, picking it up and turning it over in her hands.

"Just look inside it," Was her blunt response. Frowning, she cracked the notebook open to a random page, eyes scanning its contents.

Her heart rate spiked again.

_I tried to tell Mami again today. But I couldn't do it. Just when I brought it up she launched into this stupid thing about another job opportunity she had dug up. It's the third one this week. When is she going to realize that blindly applying everywhere isn't going to get her anywhere. If only she would listen..._

A cold sweat was breaking out over her forehead, but she didn't have time to reach up and wipe it away. Shifting her grip on the notebook, Mami braced her thumbs and flipped to another random page, eyes frantically devouring what they found there.

_The walls should have cute little pictures of things on them, I think. Olive is a pretty color; Mishki has it on her walls, too, though I think I'd choose a brighter shade than that. I want to run a cheerful place. I'll have to talk to Mami about that too...then again, I have a lot of things I need to talk to her about. I think it's been more than two weeks since I ran into Junko by now. I wonder how long she'll wait before she decides to give the property to someone else? I must be running out of time..._

_Stupid, stupid Mami..._

"What is this?" Mami asked again, her hands cold and blocky. The notebook felt like a living snake in her hands. Her heart felt like a gravity engine all on its own, and she was seating profusely, which didn't make sense considering the air vent was practically blasting her from above. She didn't understand this. She didn't understand any of it.

Homura glanced over at her almost like she was bored. "Three weeks ago, Kiku and I ran into an old acquaintance of mine. A woman named Junko Kaname."

Mami's mouth went dry.

"At the time, Kiku was busy telling me about a dream she had," Homura continued. "It was just a thought at the time, a simple idea. We were at a little cafe in the center of the city, you see, and she was telling me how she wanted to have a place like that one day, with you. There were several superfluous details that I fail to recall. But the important thing is that Junko just happened to be at the table beside us, and when she heard the story she made Kiku an offer."

Mami licked her lips, but her tongue was as dry as her mouth. "What...what kind of an offer?"

Homura pursed her lips. "Apparently, Junko's company owned a small plot of land they had no use for. She was willing to offer it to Kiku for her to do whatever she liked with it, within reason. Of course, she was terribly excited. Her vague fantasy could now become a reality. She wanted to tell you immediately, of course, but you were so wrapped up in your own little world that she never got around to it."

"But that doesn't make any logical sense," Mami protested, waving the notebook between them. "Why a food establishment, of all things? It's so much riskier than getting a standard office job. Don't tell me she didn't think about the economic consequences-"

"Kiku didn't _care_ about the 'economic consequences'," Homura interrupted her, snatching the notebook from the blonde's hands. "All she wanted was to be able to leave the goddam _house_ for once, and have a place where she could work and be with you at the same time. Is that really so much to ask for? Even if it might not be the best monetary decision, does that _really_ make her such a fool? That girl is literally dead to the world, and you were making it worse by forcing her to hide! She was tired of just being next to you, Mami, and she still is. So am I. She wants to _live_. Kiku wants a life, and she wants you to be part of that life, for some reason I could never comprehend. But it's what she wants."

Mami stared at the notebook in Homura's hands, at the tattered edges and ruined pages. "But why would she want something like that so badly?" She muttered, look down. "Doesn't she understand that I was trying my best for the both of us? I never would have left her, you know. I don't understand why she would need this so badly."

Homura jetted a hot stream of air through her nose, flicking the notebook across the floor. "Don't you _understand_, you damn fool? She is _in love with you!"_

Mami's heart stopped.

"...What?"

* * *

><p>Kyouko didn't know how long she had been running, but her breathing was ragged.<p>

Turning a corner, she thought she saw a flicker of chocolate brown hair disappearing behind a building. "Hey!" She called out, wheezing slightly as she struggled to keep up. God, she was out of shape. "Stop running, god damn it!"

She hadn't actually had her eyes on Kiku this entire time, but she had been able to detect the girl's magical signature and use that to follow her, deep into the suburban zones of Mitakihara. Part of her had considered taking a break or even giving up altogether. It wasn't as if she had any particular stake in this whole thing. But then Homura's pleading face would always flash through her mind, and she would groan to herself before pushing her body to run faster.

_You'd better be worth it, Kiku Hanezawa,_ she muttered to herself. Abruptly, the speed at which the illusionists's presence was moving drastically slowed. Looking up, Kyouko saw a familiar big hill rising up above her. Kiku must be trying to scale the damn thing.

Unfortunately, that probably meant that the redhead would have to climb up the hill too.

Kyouko swore to herself and fed a little more magical energy into her legs, feeling the fatigue that had built up there suppress itself for a while longer. Of course it would be the hill. Kiku couldn't decide to flee from her sorrows across a nice, downhill plane, could she?

Reaching the bottom of the hill, Kyouko psyched herself up before beginning her ascent. She could feel the brunette's presence at the crest of the hill, completely stationary now that the girl had apparently stopped running, which was just as well. The redhead grunted obscenities to herself as she dragged herself up the hill, her thighs burning from the exertion. She could have taken the flatter path that wound it way around the side of the hill, but that would have taken too long, and she was afraid that Kiku would start running again if she didn't catch up in time. Nevertheless, running straight up the side wasn't such a pleasant experience, either.

At long last, Kyouko reached the top of the hill, throwing her leg over the low fence that ringed the knoll's crest and collapsing onto the grass on the other side, chest heaving. The bristly stalks beneath her were soft and forgiving, and for a moment she wanted to close her eyes and take a good, long nap. And she would have, if Kiku's signature hadn't suddenly begun to move again.

Summoning the last of her energy, Kyouko sprang to her feet, casting her head from side to side. Her eyes finally alighted on a small figure on the other side of the hill, slowly climbing over the fence herself. Hell, was the girl trying to throw herself off the edge? Kyouko's side of the hill was a gradual slope, but she knew that the opposite end that faced the lake dropped off into a sheer cliffside. She didn't think Homura would be very pleased if the redhead ended up bringing back a mangled corpse.

Briefly apologizing to her legs, Kyouko sprinted across the crest of the hill, rapidly closing the distance between herself and Kiku.

"Hey!" She hollered again, waving her arms as little tufts of grass were flattened beneath her rapidly falling feet. "Kiku, wait up!"

The redhead ran until the fence got in her way, slowing down to a complete halt in front of the rickety wall of wood, breathing heavily. Kiku, who had paused at the very edge of the cliff, turned to regard the girl who had chased her all the way up here. The sun was still hiding behind a veil of gray clouds, and the air seemed choked with moisture, like it was about to rain. A thick wind cut between them, whipping up a series of small waves on the surface of the lake far below them. A storm was coming, but Kyouko didn't have time to worry about that right now.

"Listen," She panted, still trying to catch her breath. "Just...just calm down, okay?" She said, realizing how ridiculous that must have sounded, when she was the one chasing this damned girl like a madman. Kyouko reached up and placed one hand on the top of the fence, but didn't make to jump over it, afraid of what Kiku might do if she came any closer.

The brunette in question turned and regarded her with tear stained eyes. "Go away, Kyouko," She muttered, turning back away. "This has nothing to do with you."

"Sorry, but I can't do that," The redhead immediately debunked, crossing her arms over her chest. Kiku frowned back at her, wiping the tears from her face and taking a subconscious step towards the edge of the cliff. She noticed Kyouko's stricken expression when she did, and sneered.

"I'm not going to throw myself off the edge, if that's what you're thinking," Kiku said. "I'm not _that_ stupid."

Kyouko blinked in surprise, some measure of relief blossoming inside of her. "No, I guess you aren't," She agreed. The brunette turned back around, and Kyouko decided to climb over the fence when the girl wasn't looking, throwing her legs over the side and alighting quietly on the grass. She walked slowly towards the illusionist, making sure to make a little noise as she did, not trying be obnoxious but not wanting to catch the girl off guard.

"If wouldn't even die if I did," Kiku muttered to herself, staring dejectedly at her shoes, and at the cold hard ground far below them.

Kyouko finally drew level with the brunette, looking uneasily at the sheer drop that was literal inches in front of her. "No, you wouldn't," She agreed, making a point to look away from the abyss.

Kiku stared angrily at the lake for a while longer, seemingly lost within her own thoughts, then she rubbed roughly at her face again. "Why are you here, Kyouko? What do you want?"

The redhead was caught off guard by the question, finding that she didn't have a real answer to the girl. "I...I just came to make sure you were okay," She muttered at last.

The brunette beside her smiled wanly, her eyes still red from crying. "So now you're suddenly all worried about me?"

Kyouko frowned and looked away uncomfortably, knowing the illusionist had a point; she hadn't exactly acted friendly with her in the past. "Look, it's not like I hate you or anything," She said, feeling like she had to make that clear for starters. "But if you really need to know...Homura asked me to."

Kiku smiled a little wider, then flopped down onto the grass, making Kyouko's heart flutter with the abrupt movement. "I'm guessing she asked you to bring me back?"

The redhead lingered for a moment before deciding to sit down beside the illusionist, drawing her legs in as far as she could away from the cliff. "Yeah."

The older girl pressed her forehead against her knees and turned her head away. "Well, you can tell her you failed. I'm not going back."

Kyouko raised an eyebrow, a little miffed at being blown aside so soon. "Who says that's up to you?" She challenged, crossing her arms over her chest. "If I wanted to, I could knock you out and carry you all the way back home before dinnertime."

"I'm sure you could," Kiku muttered back. "Why don't you, then?"

"Just cause I could doesn't mean I want to," Kyouko pointed out, digging around in her pockets. She found a small pack of gum and popped one into her mouth, chewing thoughtfully on the small sweet square. "I would much rather prefer it if you came along willingly...want one?" She asked, offering the box of gum to Kiku.

The illusionist stared dumbly at the cardboard container. "Um...no, I'm fine," She declined bluntly. Kyouko shrugged and set the box between them, just in case. Kiku pressed her nose into her knees and continued to look the other way, staring sightlessly into the abyss.

It was awkwardly silent between them, or at least for Kiku it felt awkward; she knew next to nothing about the redhead. But besides that, she didn't see the point in the girl's being here. She definitely wasn't going back, not to that accursed apartment. She was sick and tired of that goddamn apartment. That place had become her prison. She wouldn't go back until the cops came and dragged her back to be locked up again.

Then it occurred to her that Kyouko might be the cops, and she detested the thought.

The redhead in question seemed much more relaxed by comparison, almost like she was waiting her out, patiently chewing on her gum until Kiku decided to talk. The brunette watched her out of the corner of her eye, trying to read the girl's expression. Kyouko's face was impassive at the moment, but there was a constant fire in her eyes; it was always there, that light, that energy, one that betrayed her inner strength. Kiku envied her for it. She knew that Kyouko likely cared deeply for Homura, but some primal part of her thought that in the end, if it really came down to it, Kyouko would be just fine without someone to love. She was independent like that.

Finally giving in, Kiku sighed and started picking at the grass; it was a bad habit of hers. "Are you really going to just sit there?"

Kyouko tossed her head, her long ponytail swaying behind her. "If I have to," She said simply. "You're the one who's making me sit here."

"Just go home, Kyouko," She said again, switching her gaze to the ground, to the abyss. The clouds were thickening, blackening, but the rain was not yet forthcoming. "You don't even know what's been going on between me and Mami."

"Maybe not," Kyouko agreed readily, blowing a small bubble. "But you know what? I don't think I have to know. I can sort of figure it out, by looking at the two of you. I guess what I'm saying is...I know how you feel, Kiku. I know you don't know alot about me, but I've been where you are."

Kiku stared solemnly at her nails, at the little mountain of grass blades she was accumulating. "How could you possibly understand my situation?" She grumbled.

The redhead pursed her lips, leaning back on her hands, away from the cliffside. "I've had secrets before," She replied. "And I know how hard it is to keep a secret, while at the same time wanting to tell the people you love all about it...and then, in the end, they all find out. In the worst possible way."

The illusionist still didn't look up. She had some vague recollections of Kyouko's past, perhaps little tidbits that people had led slide while they were around her, but no concrete memory resurfaced in her mind. She really did know next to nothing about Kyouko. Kiku found the thought somewhat regrettable.

"So, what did you do? When they all found out, I mean," She asked quietly, trying to sound as disinterested as possible.

Kyouko smiled to herself, revisiting a bitter memory. "I withdrew inside myself. I didn't have any friends for a really long time, and when I did I ended up pushing them away. Which is actually how I met Mami, come to think of it," She said, drawing Kiku's attention at the blonde's mention. "I lived like that for years. And you know what? I regretted it. I was unhappy with myself, I was alone, I was violent...it wasn't until I started talking to Homura and Mami again that I became more positive about things. And yeah, I know we still have our problems. You were there for a lot of them. But I think it's better to yell and throw things at each other than keep our feelings bottled up all the time. Now_ that's_ unhealthy."

Kiku snorted to herself, reaching up to brush some errant bangs out of her eyes. "Well, I did that. I yelled and threw things. And look how well that turned out."

"And then you ran," Kyouko pointed out, popping another gum square. "That's where you fucked up. You can't just start a commotion and then _leave_; if you're going to start something, you might as well go through with it. Keep yelling, keep throwing shit, until you get your point across. With someone as thickheaded as Mami, that's the only way you're going to win. She wasn't treating you right, was she?"

Kiku narrowed her eyes at the ground. "No, maybe she wasn't," She admitted, leaving deep furrows in the earth with her nails. "But I know it's because she cares. I can't just ignore that."

Kyouko surprised her by scoffing. "Who cares about what her motives were? She wasn't treating you right, and that's all that matters. Do you think I was happy with Homura after she tried to hide her sickness from me, because she _cares_? Well, don't guess; I was freaking pissed. Just caring about someone doesn't automatically put you in the right. Not to mention that Mami can be pretty stupid; sometimes you've got to put your foot down and just tell her."

"But I'm not like that," Kiku murmured timidly, closing her eyes. She was tired. "You know I'm not like that. I can't just...ignore her feelings. You weren't there, Kyouko. You haven't seen it with your own eyes."

Kyouko eyed her. "Tell me then," She said simply. "Tell me how you feel."

Kiku glanced at her discreetly, instinctively wanting to refuse. But no; this was her chance. The girl had asked for it, and she was going to get it. Let's see how well she can handle someone complaining about their problems.

"She just...doesn't consider me, when she does things," The brunette said, tracing out a small pattern in the grass. "I don't like it, and it makes me mad...but then I think about how much I care about her. I think about all those times I saw her sad, or terrified, or crying...in the hospital, when she was alone, whenever. I think about all that and remember it, and I just can't argue against her. I just want her to be happy..."

Kyouko said nothing, just tilted her head, listening.

"It's not like I want to sacrifice myself for Mami," She continued. Her voice was thickening again, but she fought it back. "I've done that once already. But keeping everything that I want to say inside _hurts_. It hurts so much, but when I looked at her face I just can't say anything, and the pain just gets worse..."

God, she was crying again, fat tears leaking out of her eyes and streaming down her cheeks, staining her face and choking her. Covering her face with her hands, Kiku buried her face and tried to sob noiselessly, too proud to let her sounds of sorrow slip through in front of Kyouko.

The redhead started upon realizing that Kiku was crying, and was at a complete loss. She had thought that playing the calm, cool approach would help, but apparently not. How did one comfort a weeping maiden in distress? She had no idea.

"Hey..." Kyouko said awkwardly, reaching out and patting the girl's shoulder. "Hey, look. It's alright. Don't cry, okay? Seriously, don't. You're making me really uncomfortable, here."

But Kiku shrugged the girl off, swallowing thickly before wheezing back, "Why should I? It's not like you care..."

That was an untruth, and Kyouko found herself irked by it. "I _do_ care," She said sternly, making the other girl go still. "Do you think I would still be here if I didn't? Not even Homura can make me do something I really don't feel like doing. I'm here because I want to be, alright? Even if we did have beef with each other in the past. So...please, just stop crying."

Kiku went very still, then slowly raised her head, sniffling as she rubbed the fresh tears away from her eyes. "Okay, fine," She muttered, drawing in a shuddering breath. Kyouko patted her gently on the back.

"There you go," She said approvingly. "Strong girls like us can't cry, you know. It's against the rules."

Kiku sniffed again, but smiled slightly. "Strong girl like us, huh?"

"Sure," Kyouko said, smiling confidently back. "Homura and Mami are incredible too, but...between you and me, they aren't as strong as they seem to be. They're both alot weaker than you'd think. And they both need us. So...just come back with me. Please?"

Kiku closed her eyes, analytically weighing her options. Could she really go back and face Mami again, after what she had said? She still blamed the blonde for so many of her grievances; after all that yelling, she was finally able to admit that much to herself. As much as she loved Mami, the girl had mistreated her, that much was true. But beneath that, beneath all the hate and spite, was the desire to be on good terms again. She wanted to be able to smile and laugh with Mami again, just like that had that one night on the hammock, today and until the end of time. But she didn't want to go back to the way things were either. If only she could open herself up to the blonde, explain what she really wanted from their relationship, and hope for the best...

But what did she really want between the two of them? Was it love? Or was it simply companionship? Kiku knew that she couldn't expect Mami to love her as much as she loved the blonde; no matter what, that choice ultimately was not hers. but fairness, open communication, understanding; she could ask for those things, couldn't she? Was that too much to ask?

Then she realized that if that really was too great a request, her relationship with Mami was composed of utter bullshit. She ought to be entitled to that much.

There was a rustling beside her, and she turned to see Kyouko slowly picking herself up off the grass. Once she was on both feet, the redhead extended one hand down to the illusionist, a reassuring smile on her face.

"C'mon, Kiku," She prompted softly. "I never said it was gonna be easy. But you agree with me, don't you? You have to do this."

The brunette looked up into Kyouko's eyes, at the kindness and strength she found there, the confidence in her smile, the energy in her teeth, and wondered why she had ever come to dislike this girl in the first place.

"Okay," She whispered, reaching up and taking Kyouko's hand. The redhead surprised her by yanking Kiku up without warning, making the brunette cling to Kyouko's shoulders to steady herself. The spear wielder laughed at the girl's surprise, her teeth sparkling despite the absence of sun.

"Jeez..." Kiku muttered, still squeezing Kyouko's shoulders. She felt strangely lightheaded, and she needed the redhead for support for fear of falling off the edge for real. "Do you do things like that to Homura all the time?"

Kyouko rolled her eyes, keeping a firm grip on the illusionists's arms. "Not allll the time," She said, stretching out that one word. "Just...once in a while," She admitted, smirking. Kiku found herself blushing when she saw how pretty the redhead's smile was. She had never really realized it before, but Kyouko wasn't a bad looking girl. Not in the slightest.

"So, uh..." She searched for words for a moment, somewhat distracted. "Does this mean we're friends now?"

"Hm..." Kyouko seemed to genuinely consider the question, and Kiku found her eyes strangely attracted to the girl's long eyelashes. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the redhead poked her hard in the forehead.

"Ow!" Kiku exclaimed, flinching backwards, and she would have fallen into the abyss if not for her grip on Kyouko's shoulders. "What was that for?" But the redhead let her go and slipped back to the fence, grinning triumphantly.

"Friends aren't something you decide on," She called back, throwing one leg over the wooden wall. "It just happens, alright? And stop checking me out. Don't you know that I'm taken?"

Kiku, who was busy rubbing her forehead, blushed badly. "I-I wasn't thinking that!" She protested, jogging back towards the fence.

Kyouko laughed. "Bullshit! You were totally eating me up!"

"Was not!"

"Whatever. Just hurry up! You've got your own girl to talk to, don't you?"

* * *

><p>Junko Kaname's office building was tall and imposing, just like its owner; it was one of the tallest skyscrapers in all of Mitakihara, nestled securely in the bustling heart of the city. It was so tall that Homura could see it through the window as the gravity train pulled to a noiseless stop outside the station, but she wasn't the type to be impressed by mere size alone. As soon as the doors hissed aside, she grabbed Mami and dragged them both out of the station, making a direct beeline for the building. Mami didn't protest as much as she had before, probably having decided that there was no use in contesting the shield user. Besides, she had other things on her mind.<p>

The blonde had been absolutely shocked to find out that Kiku was in love with her. The discovery had ended up pissing of Homura so much that she tired herself out, leaving her unable to actually express her agitation. She had been hoping that Mami must have _some_ thought, some tiny inkling of the idea that Kiku wanted more than a simple friendship, but no. Nothing. Rather, the blonde had been doubly surprised to learn that her best friend was a homosexual. Homura had wanted to bash her head into the window and call it quits after that, but she decided against it. She would probably pass out from blood loss, and then who would drag Mami all the way into Junko's office? But really, the girl was denser than a diamond being compressed within the earth's core.

After hailing another cab, they reached the front of Junko's building. Mami craned her neck back to take the whole thing in, but Homura didn't give her the time to sightsee. She pulled them both through the door, approaching the front desk with an air of authority.

"We would like an audience with miss Junko Kaname, please," She said sternly.

The woman manning the front desk looked cooly back at her with a raised eyebrow, a pair of sharp horned eyeglasses perched on top of her nose. Homura fought the urge to push up her own pair of lenses in competition; she knew immediately that this woman was not taking her seriously. "Young lady, do you realize how busy someone like Kaname-san is-"

Homura lifted her hands and slammed then down on the desk as loudly as she could, startling both the lady and Mami, along with everyone else in the lobby. "I am _perfectly_ aware of how busy Junko is. But I'm sure she'll be glad to see us once you tell her who you've been holding up for precisely seventy seconds, by now. So if you could please do us all a great favor and send your boss a _brief_ message?"

The receptionist blinked, her glasses askew after she had flinched backwards from Homura's desk slamming. Scrabbling for the phone, she punched a single number in and waited for the receiver to burr.

"Hello, Kaname-sama?" She said a moment later. "Yes, this is the front desk...you have two children here who claim they want to see you...huh? Oh, uh...black hair, yes. Shouldn't I-what? Let them in? But..."

The receptionist's voice trailed off as Junko said something that was probably both kind and threatening at the same time, and a moment later she nodded frantically before setting the phone back down.

"Kaname-san will see you now," The lady said sheepishly, scribbling her signature onto a slip and handing it to Homura. The shield user accepted it curtly and led Mami down the hall, to the elevators at the far end of the lobby.

"Was that...really necessary?" Mami asked doubtfully, staring back at the receptionist, who seemed to be trembling. "I feel bad for her."

"Sometimes you need to be rude to get your point across," Homura replied, the ice still in her voice. "Just ask Kiku."

Mami fell silent at that.

Pushing the button fixed into the wall, Homura waited impatiently as she waited for the elevator to return to the first floor. When the doors finally slid open, she walked in and selected the highest available floor, then waiting impatiently again as the doors closed and they began to rise, that familiar gut wrenching feeling in their stomachs as their altitude changed.

"Why are we here, again?" Mami asked, almost afraid to ask. Homura looked more irritated than ever. The shield user had mentioned Junko in her story, but she couldn't mean...

"As Kiku's friend, I'm going to give her another chance," Homura replied bluntly. "We're going to pay Junko a visit, and you're going to accept her offer."

Mami's eyes widened. "What? But I haven't even had time to think about this! You can't just make me walk in there are sign some paper!"

"Yes, I can," Homura said blandly, "And I will. If you want to be on good terms with Kiku again, you'll do this for her. It's the least you could do; lord knows you've put that girl through enough already."

Mami fell silent again, staring down at her shoes, and at the emasculate, reflective floor. "Am I really that terrible?" She asked quietly.

Homura glanced at the blonde through the corner of her eye. The mechanisms lifting the elevator up the chute hummed softly through the walls, giving ambience to their thoughts as Mami awaited the girl's answer.

Finally, Homura closed her eyes and sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "To be frank, I don't think you're a bad person," She said. "But sometimes...sometimes, Mami, you really treat people like shit."

Mami blinked and looked up in surprise, shocked by the shield user's use of profanity; the girl rarely swore, if ever, at least in front of her.

"So do you think that I treat Kiku like...like...sh-shit?" The blonde asked, albeit with some difficult; the word came off her tongue sounding ugly. It was unbecoming of her.

Homura actually smiled at Mami's discomfort, apparently amused by her inability to swear fluently. "I can't say for sure. I'm not with the two of you all the time," She replied earnestly, watching the little blinking light on the wall that marked which floor they were on. "But...if you think about it, the answer is probably yes."

Mami looked back down at the floor again, clasping her hands together. "Oh."

Homura thought that she had probably hurt the blonde's feelings by saying that, and admittedly she did feel a small pang of sympathy. But she didn't let it show through her expression; if she was going to make Mami go through with this, she would have to be unwavering.

The light above them dinged, letting them know that they had arrived at their destination. The door slid open slowly, letting in a waft of cool air; Mami shivered when it met her skin.

"Come on," Homura said, for once not grabbing her by the wrist as she stepped out of the chute. "Things can change, Mami. Even the worst of people can improve. I can attest to that."

The hall outside was colder than the air that had greeted them. They padded silently across a lushly carpeted floor until they reached the biggest door they could find, one that was appropriately labeled with the words JUNKO KANAME in big bold font, printed onto a name plaque right by the handle. Raising one fist, Homura knocked solidly at the door. Mami flinched by withdrew her judgement; she preferred softer, more polite knocks.

Junko Kaname was a very punctual woman, and not a moment later the door was pulled open, and the businesswoman herself was standing on the other side, clad in full formal gear, shining with intent from head to toe.

"My! Fancy meeting the two of you again. And here, of all places!" Junko greeted them. Homura made to bow, but the woman simply offered her hand, and the two of them shook with a sort of familiarity. She did not extend the same courtesy to Mami, however, instead turning back into her office. "Come in, come in!"

Homura followed her readily, Mami less surely. The blonde closed the door quietly behind her before turning to observe the office in all its glory. It was a large, expansive space, with the same expensive carpeting that extended into the hallway, as if Junko's influence had been too great for the room to contain, and it had consequently spilled into the hall. Equally expensive furniture furnished the walls and corners, but the only part of the office that seemed to have taken alot of use was the desk sitting in front of the balcony, with stacks of paper piled high. Junko Kaname was indeed a very busy woman. Mami felt a slight prick of guilt for taking up the woman's time.

"If you don't mind, Kaname-san, I would like to get straight to the point," Homura said immediately, standing in front of the desk as Junko took her seat behind it.

"Good!" The woman agreed, snapping her fingers in approval. "I always hate those old geezers in the office who feel the need to make needless chitchat. Cutting to the chase it always preferable."

Homura nodded. "I'm glad you feel that way," She said. "To be brief, then, we're here about your offer to Kiku, which you made admittedly some time ago. I'm assuming it is still valid?"

Junko's painted lips curved up into a knowing smile, a...triumphant smile. She had been expecting this, Mami realized. The thought sent violent shivers down her spine, and she didn't think it was from the air conditioning.

"It most certainly is valid," Junko agreed, letting one elegant hand fall to the desk. It began tapping away at the wood, at Mami's nerves.

Homura nodded again. "Good. Tomoe-san here would like to take you up on your offer."

Junko's eagle eyes shifted to the Mami for the first time. "Is that so?"

"Huh?" Mami started, caught off guard. Her eyes darted around the general vicinity of the desk before settling back on Junko's eyes, but they weren't comfortable there; it felt like her soul was being looked inside of. "I...yes, I suppose," The blonde said at last, effectively cowed. Never had she met a woman with such powerful presence.

Junko hummed thoughtfully, spinning from side to side in her plush, high backed chair. No longer able to stay on the woman's eyes, Mami's gaze drifted to the rest of her face. Lips painted a bright, unapologetic red, still curved up into that omniscient smile. A sharp nose, strong shoulders. Short, precisely cut purple hair that fell just short of the woman's chin, ending in fine points so sharp and exact that Mami felt that they could be classified as weapons.

"Mami Tomoe, was it?" She said, snapping the girl's attention back to focus. "I believe we have met before, yes?"

A bad memory, regarding failure and rejection, returned to her. "...Yes," She said, hoping she didn't sound begrudging. "We have."

"Hmm," Was the only reaction she got. "And are you sure you agree with Homura-chan here? Do you really wish to take me up on my offer?"

Feeling somewhat that she was being bullied, Mami forced herself to raise her head and meet the woman's gaze head on. "Yes," She said firmly this time. "I do."

Junko smiled again. "Very well," She accepted, leaning back before pulling herself out of the chair, which she left spinning in her wake. "Let's straighten out the details in private, shall we?" She left without waiting for the blonde's consent, pressing a keypad that was fixed onto the wall. The glass door that separated them from the balcony slid open with a slight hiss, letting in the hot evening air. Beyond her, Mami saw a small table sitting on the veranda.

She looked back at Homura, who stared impassively back. "Go," The younger girl said, gesturing with one hand at Junko's receding back. "I've got you this far. The rest is up to you."

Mami knew that she had to move, but something kept her there, some strange urge to do something, say something, to the shield user's face. She didn't know if she should be feeling gratitude at the moment or not; it was a good thing that Homura had done for her, but the girl's words had been tipped with malice the entire time. Mami had no doubt that, personally, Homura cared very little for her. But the fact that she was able to suppress that preference, and set it aside in order to pursue a greater good, was admirable in itself. Mami had to respect that.

Putting her hands together, the blonde tipped her head and bowed deeply.

"Thank you," She said, trying to sound as honest as possible. "For everything. For putting up with me. For this. Thank you."

She couldn't see from her position, but Homura's hardened face actually melted into a soft smile. "You can thank me later," She said, gently ushering the blonde towards the veranda. "Go. Junko doesn't like to be kept waiting."

When Mami stepped out onto the balcony, the door hissed closed behind her. Turning, she saw Junko waiting for her at the table, smiling amiably. She had a small array of papers spread out on the table. Walking over, the blonde gingerly took her seat across from the woman, and a moment later one of the papers was passed to her.

"This is a basic outline of the costs for the plot," Junko explained, circling a section of the list with her pen. There's an old house still on the land that we haven't demolished yet, and I was thinking you could use it to your advantage rather than starting from scratch, anyway. How does it look to you?"

Mami scanned down the list of costs, mentally consulting what she knew about her personal expenses. It was a bit on the pricey side, considering that she was still effectively a high school student. But then again, she was no ordinary high school student, either. And it _was_ significantly discounted, based on what little she new about real estate. The location wasn't too bad either, now that she thought about it.

It then occurred to her that Kiku must have thought about all these things already. If only she were here. Her chest throbbed painfully with guilt. She just wanted to see the brunette again; she wanted to apologize somehow, tell her that she was sorry, that she hadn't meant it. Homura was absolutely right; she had been a fool to not notice before it was too late. Her best friend, and they were living under the same roof, yet she had been blind as a bat. The realization made her feel disgusted with herself.

This was one way to fix that.

"I...think it should be fine," Mami said at last, handing the outline back. Junko nodded and took the paper, shifting through a small mountain of other files.

"We can talk it out later if we have to," The businesswoman promised. She took out another file and pushed it across the table. "Here's a picture of the grounds. How does it look to you?"

"Well..."

The next half hour or so was consumed by the repetition of this process; Junko would present her with some kind of information for approval, and Mami would give her honest opinion on it. The woman was noticeably more accommodating than she had been during the job interview; she supposed that clients got a little more leeway. Mami watched Junko's face the entire time, looking for some hint of emotion, some slip up that would tell her what the woman was thinking. But her face remained calm and impassive the entire time, the model of professionalism. Color her impressed.

After the main bulk of papers and questions had been cleared aside, Mami sighed and leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes, which were tired from reading through so many lists. Junko paused to let her rest, stacking the finished stacks of paper together as she did. It was quiet out on the veranda, and they were so high up that even the city below them couldn't be heard. It was lonely here, on top of the world. But it was where Junko Kaname lived. Mami supposed one had to be strong to carve out a live in this desolate plane of life.

Turning her head to the side, Mami observed the graying sky, the angry storm clouds gathering on the horizon. They looked like little angry fists bustling together above the mountains. Mami watched these clouds as she let her mind wander, and eventually it settled on something that had been bothering her for a while.

"You rejected me on purpose, didn't you?" She said softly, keeping her eyes on the horizon.

Junko's rhythm did not halter, as the woman continued stacking papers with the precision of a machine. "Well, I certainly didn't do it by accident."

"Thats...not what I meant," Mami said, suppressing the brief flash of anger that had arisen in her chest. She wasn't stupid. Or perhaps the woman was used to look down on everyone around her?

Junko was silent for a minute or two before answering. Finally, she set the last of the papers aside and folded her hands on top of the table. "Then what did you mean? You can't expect everyone to understand what your intention while being so vague."

"Just...why? Besides me not be qualified enough, or whichever...why did you reject my application?" Mami asked, deciding that the woman was asking for her to be blunt. "I know that it has something to do with your relationship with Kiku. But I don't know what that relationship entails. So...why?"

The woman sitting across from her closed her eyes. "You seem like a very headstrong girl, Tomoe-san," She said, clasping her hands together. "And to be honest, I think I would have accepted your application if I could have. That same youthful energy, the desire to prove yourself, a need to move forward in life...you reminded me a bit of myself, when I was your age."

Mami watched her quietly, waiting for her to continue.

"But..." Junko sighed then, letting her neck droop a bit. "But, I just couldn't. The moment the door opened and I saw Hanezawa-san standing behind you, I understood exactly what was going on. Call it intuition, or call it luck, whichever suits you. But I saw immediately that she wasn't happy about your being here, or about you trying to get a job. I connected that to the offer I had made her several weeks prior, and the rest was easy. After realizing that, how could I hire you, knowing what it would have done to poor Kiku?"

Mami stared, processing the information. "That seems...oddly unprofessional."

Junko laughed out loud, holding her hands up in a 'what can you do' manner. "Business isn't everything," She said. "And that's coming from someone who's dedicated her entire life to business. Sometimes people's feelings win out over how much money you make. And there's nothing wrong with that."

Mami frowned and looked at the skyline, knowing that Kiku was out there somewhere, putting even more distance between them. "Your efforts might have been wasted," She admitted.

The older woman raised on eyebrow. "And why is that?"

"I...I've hurt her," Mami admitted, not knowing why she was talking about this with a complete stranger, but feeling the need regardless. "I was blind, Kaname-san. I couldn't see what was right in front of me. Kiku told me as much, once, a long time ago. She's been trying so hard all this time, and I thought I was too, but in the end I just hurt her. And I don't know if she'll find it within herself to forgive me. I don't think I deserve it, either."

Junko smiled to herself, breathing out slowly as she leaned back in her seat. "Who knows?" She asked rhetorically, laying her arms on the chair as she craned her head back, as if to devour the sky. "I've been bankrupt before. When I was broke, I felt like the lousiest businesswoman on the planet. But I didn't let that stop me. And now look at where I am."

Mami smiled, staring down at her lap. "Not everyone is like you, Kaname-san."

"Maybe not," She admitted, leaning forward again. "But you can try. And that's what matters."

* * *

><p>Homura was busy observing a rather odd painting that had been set up against the wall of Junko's office, standing with her tired arms crossed over her chest as her eyes devoured the artistic work. She couldn't tell if it was modern or from a previous era. It seemed to be in acrylic, and it depicted a massive turtle that had fallen onto its back, leaving it unable to get up. A small army of little men were surrounding the fallen beast, erecting a series of complex pulleys and ropes in an effort to bring the animal upright again. But the turtle itself seemed impassive about the entire situation, and its closed eyes made it look as if asleep. The little men were shouting at it to wake up and fight for its ability to walk again, but the turtle seemed perfectly content to lay there and rot away into nothing.<p>

She found herself despising the turtle.

Before she could fall too deep into meaningless hate, Homura heard the door to the balcony opening again. Turning, she saw Mami striding across the room towards her, as Junko took her seat behind the desk again.

"Everything's been settled," The woman said from her seat, popping her knuckles one by one. "The rest we can take care of at a later date, once we're able to get both Tomoe-san and Hanezawa-san together in the same room. But for now, we can relax."

Homura bowed. "Thank you, Kaname-san."

"Call me Junko." The woman smiled. "And you're welcome."

Nodding, Homura turned and grasped the door handle, making to leave. Mami turned and gave her own farewell bow, and was about to follow the shield user out the door when Junko called her name.

"Tomoe-san!"

Mami paused, sticking her head out past the door. "Yes?"

Junko winked. "Good luck!"

* * *

><p>It was the end of the day when they left the building, passing by a receptionist that glared at them but seemed glad to have them gone. The streets outside were busy, but they were lucky enough to catch a cab without much delay. The ride to the station was brief and wordless; Mami was exhausted of conversational energy, and Homura seemed tired herself, though hers seemed to be a physical exhaustion. Mami wondered about that, but didn't ask.<p>

They reached the station some time later, and this time Mami bought the tickets for the ride home. Homura started in surprise when the blonde offered to pay instead, though she wordlessly stuffed her wallet back into her pocket. If Mami felt like being gracious, she wasn't about to complain.

As they waited together at the platform, the blonde shifted uncomfortably, itching to get home. She didn't know if Kiku would even be home by the time she made it there. And even if she was, she didn't know if the girl would be in the mood to forgive her, much less talk. In fact, she seriously doubted it. But Mami didn't want to wait; she wanted to take care of this now, before the situation got any worse. She didn't want to leave Kiku to feel pain anymore. Not now that she was aware of what she had done. Amends had to be made.

"Homura," She said aloud, and the time traveler looked at her with tired eyes.

"Yes?"

"What you told me about Kiku, on the train," She began, blushing at the memory alone. "When you said that..."

"Yes?"

Mami shifted uncomfortably. "...Is she really in love with me?" She asked at last.

Homura stared tiredly at her. "Did you think I was joking?"

"No..." The blonde replied. "But...I don't know. I almost can't believe it."

Homura snorted softly to herself. "Well, you'd better. We've all known about it for months at this point. And quite frankly, I'm tired of hearing about it. Either the two of you need to get together already, or you need to set her down for good."

"Do you think I'm obligated to love her back?" Mami wondered aloud, clutching the small packet of files Junko had given her to her chest.

Homura eyed her. "I don't know," She said at last. "How does it make you feel? When I say that she loves you, that is."

Mami thought about that for a minute. "I don't know," She said admittedly, staring down at the platform.

Homura rolled her eyes. "Well, that's normal. It's how I felt, too."

The blonde glanced at her. "Really?"

The younger girl smiled. "Yeah."

The trains blasted past them a moment later, and they stepped onto the car together.

"And you'll be fine on your own?" Mami asked, pausing to look back.

"Yes, yes, don't worry about me," Homura yawned, using her free hand to wave dismissively at the girl. "I'll take this train home. Just go and deal with Kiku."

The blonde nodded in agreement, making as if to step out onto the platform. But then she turned around again. "Homura..."

The shield user looked up.

Mami smiled shyly back. "Thanks a lot. Really."

Then the door hissed closed, and the train was moving again.

_She'd better be grateful_, Homura thought to herself, closed her burning eyes. She couldn't remember the last time she had gone through this much trouble for someone else. Actually she could, but that had been for a certain redhead. She wondered if this meant that she and Mami were now destined to become much closer.

The thought made her shudder.

Homura's body was utterly drained at this point; she had hauled Mami all the way across Mitakihara and back on pure emotion, letting her anger and then her self satisfaction fuel her, but now that she lacked any clear motivational force, her sickness was catching up to her with full force. Homura groaned loudly as she sank deep into the seat, feeling like an entire planet was crushing her shoulders. Luckily, no one else was in the car to witness her shame.

_Just a quick nap,_ she though to herself, her eyelids already descending upon her vision. The blackness was deliciously suffocating. _Just one quick nap. The intercom will wake up me up. It'll be fine..._

And so she closed her eyes, and slumbered.

* * *

><p>Consciousness.<p>

Tired as she was, Homura jolted awake and sprang to her feet almost immediately. She was surrounded by darkness on all sides. Turning around and look out the window, she saw a cold moon hanging in the sky. Night. How long had she been sleeping?

There was a small clack as a stray pebble struck the window, and it occurred to her that she was still on the train.

Whipping her head around, Homura's heart sank when she read the name of the province she was in and didn't recognize it.

_Okay, just stay calm. Think rationally. _She just had to get off at the next stop, and hop onto the first train back. Simple. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Homura forced herself to sit back down again, focusing on lowering her heart rate.

It was deathly quiet in the car, and when she looked around she realized it was because there was no one else in there with her. When she leaned forward and peaked into the adjacent cars, they seemed to be empty too. Homura's thoughts immediately thought of the train driver, but then she kicked herself; graviton trains didn't have conductors. They ran themselves.

So she really was alone in here. The thought scared her, if just a bit.

The closed her eyes, and opened then again.

The darkness was suffocating.

The only source of illumination come from outside, from the pale sheen of the full moon adorning the sky. Turning around in her seat, Homura settled for watching that instead. It gave her some comfort to watch the little while ball. Then her eyes travelled downwards, and she saw water. They were running alongside the sea. The realization made her pulse quicken again. She really was a long way from home. Turning her head, Homura tried to make out any signs of civilization in the distance, but common sense told her that she wouldn't find anything. If her knowledge of Japanese geography could be trusted, there were hardly any cities built near the coast, anymore. Not after the government had lost one too many towns to tsunamis. No, metropolises were built inland, nowadays.

Sighing to herself, Homura sat back down and checked when the next stop was. Thirty minutes. She just had to endure this creepy sense of isolation for another half hour. She could do that.

The engine was incredibly silent. Homura found herself wishing it were louder.

She was about to drift off to sleep again when she sensed the demons.

She almost didn't notice them at first, it had been so long; at first it was just an anomaly at the edge of her consciousness, but when it grew significantly stronger Homura finally recognized it. Absolute terror seized her chest when was fully realized, and her eyes shot open, the irises shrinking into twin points of pure fear. Of course. _That_ had been the error in her judgement; she wasn't in Mitakihara anymore. There the demons were no more, swept away by the death of the Radix, but here those rules no longer applied. How stupid she had been, how utterly foolish, to forget that demons still existed beyond the city's borders! And now here she was, completely alone in a running train that had no conductor, in the dead of night, exhausted beyond measure. Could she even transform? Was it worth trying? The last time she had attempted it, she had lost consciousness for several hours. If the demons found her sprawled on the floor of the train, her death was a sure thing. She would be waking up in Madoka's arms before she knew it.

Panicking, Homura stood up and began to pace, frantically trying to figure out what she was going to do. Meanwhile, the demon presence multiplied, terrifying her senses beyond measure. They were coming, all right, and there were a lot of them. There were so many chasing off the train at the moment that the aura was clogging the passageways of her brain.

Stopping her pacing for a moment, Homura swore and punched the wall, splitting her knuckles open. Fucking idiot, she was! Falling asleep on the train like that! Now what was she going to do? If she transformed, she could die, but if she didn't she almost certainly would die. She was stuck not between a rock and a hard place, but between certain death and probable death. Both terrible odds. It had been a long time since Homura had found herself in so dire a situation, and she had grown rusty over the months. She wasn't as sharp as she used to be.

A low moan pierced the night sky. The cry of demons. Homura's heart constricted.

No choice, then. She would have to transform. It was the only way to give herself a remote chance of survival; it was her only choice, really. Once she did, she would have to find some sort of emergency stop button somewhere. She didn't know if graviton trains had them like ordinary ones did, as they were a rather new method of transportation, but logic told her that even this model should have one.

Okay, good. She had a plan now.

Time to execute it.

Closing her eyes, Homura took a deep, deep breath, placing one hand over her ring.

Sending out a quick prayer, she transformed.

There was a brief flash of violet light as her form was engulfed by the magic, and Homura immediately collapsed. She moaned when the cold metal floor crashed into her temple, but she otherwise managed to cling onto consciousness, feverishly picking herself off the ground and swaying on both feet. She was in no condition to fight demons. If it came down to it, this conflict was going to get very ugly. For her in particular.

Wiping the blood from the side of her face, Homura decided not to let her magic heal it. The less power she used, the better. Taking a few shaky steps forward, she began looking for an emergency stop button. Her tired eyes alighted upon a small manual that was slotted into the wall. Staggering over to it, she knelt and plucked it out, flipping through its contents until she found the information she needed. There it was; a manual emergency stop command, situated at the very first car of the train, as well as the back. Looking up, she realized with dismay that she was in the middlemost car. Then front or back, it didn't matter. It was the same distance either way.

Tossing the manual aside, she headed slowly for the frontmost car. Little squares of pale white light shone in through the thick windows, flickering against the wall and sweeping past as the train continued to speed along through the coast. Breathing heavily already, Homura yanked the first door open and slipped into the next car, dragging herself as fast as she could down the aisle. The demon presence was growing closer with every sluggish step; she didn't know if she was going to make it in time. Even if she managed to stop the train, she would still have to face the demons; but it was easier to fight stationary than on a moving train.

Reaching the end of the car, she slid the second door aside and walked past. She was halfway there now; why did this train need to be so _long_? Homura could feel the despair building in her chest as she forced herself to continue walking, knowing that to stop was death. The moon was still flickering into the train at random intervals, illuminating random patches of the darkness and making the cold metal bars glint evilly at her. Anything the moon did not touch was plunged into an unfathomable blackness. And on top of that, there was the utter sense that she was completely _alone,_ isolated here with no one to help her as a horde of demons descended upon the train. It was a scene straight out of a horror movie, and Homura was the main character.

Reaching the end of the car at last, Homura heaved a deep breath before throwing the next door open. It stuck for a moment before rattling aside to admit her. Homura cursed as she entered the third car, more urgently than ever.

It seemed to be even more quiet than it had been before. She wondered why.

Where were the demons, anyway?

Homura was thrown off her feet as the train suddenly shook violently, its sturdy metal frame rocking from side to side as if it had been struck by a great wave. The shield user collapsed at the unexpected tremor and failed to catch herself in time, and her jaw crashed painfully into the edge of a seat. She rolled around on the floor for a moment, stunned by the injury, as the train shuddered again as it was rocked by the demon horde that had finally caught up to it.

Running on pure adrenaline, Homura hauled herself up and began to run, tearing past the closely placed seats until she reached the end of the car. Just two more to go. Just two more...

An ear splitting screech rang through the air, and Homura almost tripped again when the train shuddered once more. The noise was deafening in comparison to the absolute silence that had dominated a moment ago. It hurt her ears to hear it, and Homura finally lost any semblance of self control, raising her shield above her head and screaming as she sprinted for the other end of the car. She heard the sound of shattering glass behind her, and suddenly the demons were pouring in from all sides, filling the inside of the train like a black lake. Falling to the floor, Homura hastily summoned a small machine gun and fired haphazardly behind her, spraying bullets with wild abandon as she continued to run. The projectiles took out several of her pursuers, but they also pinged against the chrome plated walls and roof, sending great showers of sparks winging their way across the air.

She all but kicked down the final door that stood in her way, but didn't have the opportunity to run for the front of the train, because the demons had caught up with her. Homura turned and emptied the rest of her magazine into the advancing horde, swearing loudly when she ran out of bullets. Her knees almost buckled when she drew on her magic to summon a large shotgun, scrambling the cock the weapon before hip firing into the previous car, spraying buckshot into the wave of blackness. A dozen demons screeched and exploded, but the enemies were seemingly endless, as they always were. Yelling something that had to do with fear, Homura fired wildly behind her, not even bothering to aim.

She ended up regretting it. One of the pellets struck a gas line that ran along the side of the roof, and the metal piping burst, sending a gout of white hot flame jetting out towards them. The fire grew larger as more and more gas leaked out through the weakened structure, and Homura had no choice but to retreat behind the door and kick it closed again. The demons piled against the other side, momentarily stalled, but they simply poured out through the windows and entered Homura's car the same way, and now she was surrounded.

Eyes widening in panic, Homura turned and fired into this new obstacle. She just had to reach the end of this car. Tossing her not empty shotgun aside, she drew two pistols and charged into the demon horde, firing as she ran. She broke through the wall of darkness and rolled to break her momentum, springing to her feet just in time to reach out for the emergency stop button...

Then something behind her exploded, and the train rocked to the side yet again. Homura was thrown to the floor by the impact, and when she turned she saw that the car she had closed behind her was now engulfed by a raging inferno; she saw nothing of the demons that had been there previously, only red and yellow. The flames were starting to lick at the edges of the door, and soon this car would also be aflame.

The demons took advantage of her brief distraction to crowd around her legs, but Homura kicked them off, firing her pistols as she scrambled back to her feet. Lunging forward, she slammed her hand on the emergency stop button.

Many things happened at once after that. A second after her hand met the button, thus activating the emergency brakes, there was a second explosion behind, presumably from the same source. The train was thrown to the side just as the brakes seized its wheels, and the sudden massive change in momentum was too much for the car to stay upright. Homura was literally thrown through the air as the entire graviton train was lifted off the rails and thrown to the side, the first car plowing through the dirt, and suddenly it was insanity, nothing but crashing glass and rending metal and screaming wheels as the entire train flew completely off the rails, spinning the girl inside so violently that her ears rang in agony.

Homura's temple struck something sharp, and her consciousness began to slip. The train flipped one final time before coming to a haphazard stop, leaving the time traveler's bruised body laying where the roof used to be, as the car had overturned itself in the derailment. A long trough had been dug into the earth where the train had plowed through it, and the entire thing was slowly steaming, a bevy of flames still erupting from the second car.

Reaching up through wheezing breaths, Homura felt the profuse amount of blood staining her head and knew she was in trouble. The demons were still in the car with her, momentarily stunned by the crash, but they would be up soon. But she wouldn't be; her consciousness was fading fast. She had run this far on adrenaline, but now her body was failing her.

She lifted one hand a reached feebly for the sky, towards the grace of a certain goddess. But it wasn't the last thought that dominated her mind.

_Kyouko,_ she thought weakly, as the blackness overtook her.

* * *

><p><strong>Whoo. These chapters just keep getting longer and longer, don't they?<strong>

**I'm sorry about the cliffhanger. I know some of you hate them.**

**Tell me what you guys think about this chapter. I guess a lot of stuff happened this week. Don't worry, I hate seeing a weak and vulnerable Homura too, but it helps to humanize her too, in my opinion. I'll try not to be too mean to her. I don't want to get sick again :(**

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Banshee**


	30. When Life Leaves Us Blind

Chapter 30: When Life Leaves Us Blind...

Kiku closed her eyes and took a deep breath, the inevitable exhale leaving her throat with a slight shudder.

"You ready?" Kyouko asked her new friend, eyeing the brunette through the corner of her crimson irises. The illusionist swallowed her nervousness before offering the redhead a smile that looked nervous regardless; Kyouko could only smirk back.

Kiku knew that she wasn't someone who tended to act rationally when angry, nor did she expect herself to be one. As such, the few instances where she had blown up in front of her friends usually ended with her stewing until the second party found themselves gracious enough to apologize of their own accord, even if they weren't the ones at fault. Mami was the one she had blamed for this whole mess, but she knew that she wasn't entirely faultless, either. Homura was right, in the end. If she wanted change, she had to be the one to instigate it.

Opening her eyes, she inhaled deeply one more time before placing her hand on the doorknob.

"I'm ready."

Twisting her fingers, the brunette pushed the door open and stepped inside. Kyouko followed soon after, though she gave the other girl some space, in case she found it necessary to make a timely evacuation.

"Hello? Mami?" Kiku said tentatively, making slowly progress into the apartment. Shuffling forward nervously, she peeked into the main room but found it empty. "Anyone home?" After checking the kitchen, she sidled over to their bedroom and poked her head inside, but found it similarly abandoned. Frowning, she closed the door and turned to face Kyouko, who was standing in the middle of the living room, arms crossed over her chest and a questioning look on her face.

"Looks like she isn't here," The redhead verbalized, blowing another discreet bubble with her chewing gum. Kiku had no idea how the girl made one piece last for so long.

Sighing, she let go of the doorknob and walked over to the couch, falling into it with a pronounced huff. "Yeah, I guess not," She muttered, resting her chin in her palm as she stared sightlessly at the floor. Raising her eyes, she glanced at the end of the cushion. Mami's stuff was still there where the blonde had thrown it, moments before their big fight. The memory made her heart hurt.

"Hey, don't get so down," Kyouko chided, sitting beside the brunette on the couch. She patted the girl reassuringly on the shoulder. "Mami will be back soon, I'm sure. Homura probably dragged her out for a proper ass whooping, or something."

Kiku laughed at the idea of the time traveler literally slapping some sense into the blonde, thinking that the image fit their relationship quite well. "Yeah, those two never really get along, do they?"

Kyouko snorted and leaned back in her seat, folding her arms behind her head and stacking her legs on the table. "You can say that again. It's tough, you know, loving both of them when they hate each other so much. I can never hang out with both of them at once!"

"Tell me about it," Kiku sighed, sagging into the cushions herself. Kyouko offered her a gum square again, and this time she took one. "Whenever I left the apartment to see Homura, I usually told Mami I was going shopping, or something. Not that she would have noticed, now that I think about it. Either way, it'd be so much easier if those two could ignore their differences." Frowning fiercely at the gum square, she popped it into her mouth, chewing thoughtfully.

"Yeah, well..." Kyouko stared absentmindedly at the box of sweets in her hand, turning it over in her fingers. "Homura probably felt that way about you and me, you know? Friends with both of us, but we were always at odds...though I guess it was never as bad as Mami's case. I've got to admit that I gave her a little grief about hanging out with you, from time to time. It was selfish of me."

The illusionist remained silent, gazing at the thin silver sheen reflecting off the wooden floor. The sky outside was still gray and brooding, like it was going to storm soon. It made the weak sunlight lose its yellow color, staining it the hue of ice. The normally white walls were a saturated blue now, as if Mami's tears from earlier had fallen and inhabited the wallpaper. Kiku didn't speak amongst the perfect blue, not used to Kyouko being submissive or apologetic. She didn't feel that she knew the redhead well enough to respond to this side of her, just yet.

"I guess what I'm saying is..." Kyouko frowned at the box for a while longer before tossing it on the table. "I guess I'm saying I'm sorry, for what it's worth. I shouldn't have treated you like that, or for so long. I was just angry, you know? I lost my entire family because I had the bravery to lie to them...I was scared that your courage would destroy us all, too. So...I'm sorry."

Kiku smiled to herself, feeling tempted to blow a bubble but resisting the urge. Kyouko might have been both a fierce warrior and an uncompromising girl, but she had a heart, too. There was compassion underneath the armor, and she had the privilege of peeking beneath the shell. It occurred to her that this might be the side of Kyouko that Homura had a monopoly on, and for a moment the brunette felt honored.

Reaching over, gently flicked Kyouko on the temple. "Don't be sorry. Neither of us were at fault," She said, catching the girl's eye. "I guess we were just too similar, you and I. Once we decide to do something, nothing can budge us. It's both a blessing and a curse."

Kyouko looked up at her, emotions roiling in her eyes, then broke into a wide grin.

"And why couldn't you be that eloquent when it came to Mami, huh?" She asked doggedly, lunging forward and dragging Kiku into a tight headlock.

"Ow! Jeez, don't pull my hair like that!" The illusionist complained, tugging weakly at the redhead's powerful arms. In a show of physical strength, she didn't stand a chance. "She just makes my head all weird, okay? You can't blame me for it!"

Kyouko abruptly stopped drilling her knuckle into Kiku's skull, her grip relaxing somewhat. "Yeah, I know what you mean," She said. "Love does some weird shit to you, doesn't it?"

Kiku snorted and pulled her head out of the girl's grip, rubbing tenderly at her neck. "You can say that again."

Smiling, Kyouko rose from the couch and dusted herself off. "I'm gonna go home," She announced, walking towards the front door. "Whatever Homura's been up to, she's probably exhausted. I'll see you around, Kiku."

"See you," She echoed, following the redhead to the door. She bid the girl farewell and was about to close the door, but the fanged spear wielder caught her eye before she did.

"Good luck, Kiku," Kyouko said, throwing a hand up between them. "Second chances don't come easy. Don't screw up!"

_I'll try not to,_ she thought, letting the door click softly behind her.

* * *

><p>Homura hadn't been unconscious in a rather long time, but she had experienced the sensation enough to be comfortable in it. Which wasn't a very good thing, given some thought.<p>

As she lay there in the singed grass, a bevy of small fires burning slowly around her, her body proceeded to shut itself down in an effort to preserve what little energy it had left. Her magical gear dissipated soon enough, leaving her in her ordinary clothes, though the pistol and shotgun she had been wielding earlier remained by her side. A thick plume of smoke rose steadily from the wreckage of the train, the tracks twisted and bent where the brakes had crushed them like tinfoil. Two rivets ran through the earth like a pair of ugly scars. The demons were, strangely, quite absent, though she failed to remain conscious long enough to realize why. Everything was black and foggy, as her mind forced itself to close in, preparing her body for the worst.

No, her own self could never have roused her from her hibernation. She only vaguely recalled a cold, wet nose poking into her cheek from the side, and what felt like a telepathic presence on the edge of her consciousness, urging her to get up, to get away from here. She didn't respond for the first several minutes of this prodding, but once she did she only swatted weakly at the disturbance. _Sleep_, she thought back sluggishly, her mind a thick storm. Sleep was all she needed. Enough of all this moving business...

But the irritating presence persisted, swatting her head with its tail relentlessly, even crawling beneath her shoulders and attempting to shove her into some sort of momentum. Finally giving in, Homura groaned lowly and began to drag herself forward, vision too hazy to really know where she was even crawling. She made meager progress, but the strange presence helped to push her along, occupying her mind with a constant stream of information to keep her from falling into darkness again. A single sentence slipped through the crowded walls of her consciousness, latching onto her memory and resonating within her like a massive bell.

[_Do not fall here, Akemi Homura. You have been through too much to die like this._]

The voice sounded oddly familiar, but she couldn't place her finger on it. She was too tired. Only strength enough to crawl, crawl...

[_Ah, Armadel. Yes, this is the one I mentioned. Provide us with a little assistance, if you would._]

[_Forget it, Kyubey. I've got enough on my hands as it is, with all the demons she managed to rile up just by being here. You think I'd help her after all that trouble?_]

[_Just carry her into that building, Armadel. I don't expect her to be any threat to your territory. Besides, does she look in any condition to challenge you? Altruism is a tenant of your race, is it not?_]

[..._psh. Fine. But that's all I'm doing. This better not come back to haunt me later, Kyubey._]

[_You have my word._]

[_As if that's supposed to mean anything._]

Then hands slipping beneath her belly, and suddenly the black world around her was tilting, spinning. The sensation of being carried, the steady rise and fall of another girl's footfalls, her breathing, the gentle reverb of her chest as she hummed quietly to herself. It reminded Homura so much of a certain redhead that she found herself lulled to sleep almost immediately, her head falling loosely against the stranger's shoulder. The girl carrying her tensed up at the contact, but did not push Homura away, as the shield user fell into a deep slumber.

A door was pushed aside at some point; she heard the crashing of waves against a beach, too, which was strange. Had the train been running that close to the shore? The stranger muttered something about debts before carrying her into the building. Her elevation changed, and Homura felt cool wood pressing against her skin as she was set down on the floor. A moment later, something thick and warm draped itself over her. Homura clutched at the edges of the blanket and lost consciousness immediately.

[_Goodbye, Armadel. And thank you._]

[_No problem, I guess...that isn't who I think it is, is it?_]

[_Knowing your intuition, it probably is._]

[_I've heard many things about her. You should hear the tales the nomads tell when they pass through here...is she going to be okay?_ _Kyubey?_]

[_Only time will tell, Armadel. Time, and her fortitude._]

* * *

><p>The next time Homura woke up, she had recovered enough to feel like hell.<p>

She groaned as her newly awoken nerves flared with pain, her receptors firing off in her brain. Her entire body hurt; everything from her head to the bottoms of her feet felt like one giant bruise. She wouldn't have been surprised to look in the mirror and find herself marked black and blue all over, she ached so bad. Scrunching her eyes shut, Homura pressed once palm into the cold wood floor and forced herself to sit up, clutching her pounding head with both hands. Squinting through watering eyes, she took in her surroundings.

She was sitting in the middle of a large, mostly empty room, occupied only by a small cluster of chairs and a table in the corner, and what looked like an old, dusty piano off to its side. Large sections of the floor were covered in a fine layer of dust, but the small area where Homura was sitting seemed relatively clean in comparison. The walls around her were a dark, depressing gray to match the sky; cobwebs covered all the windows and the shadowy rafters above her head. It was what she had always imagined an abandoned shack to look like, should her imagination be the measuring stick by which the universe was structured.

A heavy draft blew in though the cracked windows, slipping right past her thin clothes. Homura clutched herself and shivered, drawing the blanket a little tighter around her person. It smelled like saltwater.

[_Finally, awake, Akemi Homura?_]

Turning, the shield user was surprised to see Kyubey padding in through the entrance to the hallway, with what looked like a piece of bread held in his mouth. The white alien traipsed into the room and dropped the bread slice onto a small sheet that was spread out on the floor, beside various other articles of food. Homura saw small packs of raisins, more bread, and some dried up fruits. The alien sat down beside the small gathering and licked his paw, looking entirely too casual given the unexpectedness of his entrance.

Homura eyed the creature for a while longer before deigning to speak. "Kyubey," She said softly, her voice rasping painfully from underuse. "What are you doing here?"

Instead of answering her question, Kyubey nudged the small pile of food towards her. [_Eat first, Akemi Homura. You'll need your strength._]

Frowning, Homura picked up a shriveled apple and bit gingerly into it, wincing at the bad taste. It wasn't rotten, but it didn't taste all that great, either. Living off of Kyouko's cooking had spoiled her tongue. Thinking about the redhead reminded her that she was dead meat once she got home; that was, if she ever got home. She still had no idea where she was exactly, with the lack of cities by the coast these days, not to mention how she had found herself in this abandoned shack. Homura made sure to file all the questions that came to mind as she ate, not wanting to miss any details.

The food was absolutely horrid, but she was so feverish and hungry that her body didn't care what it tasted like. She wolfed down the rest of the fruits and the raisins next, then started chewing a bit more conservatively on the bread. Kyubey watched her the entire time, looking entirely too satisfied with himself, despite the fact that the alien was incapable of most facial expression. Homura decided to chalk it up to her own steadily progressing insanity, which she figured had to be a thing by now.

She poked the last of the bread into her mouth and swallowed, sighing once it began crawling down her parched throat. The thought of water occurred to her, and a moment later Kyubey pushed a dirty glass towards her. She picked it up and wrinkled her nose at the stuff, but forced herself to down it regardless. Some cruddy water was better than no water at all. She had seen 127 Hours. Besides, her body would filter out most of the impurities on its own.

As Homura set the glass down with a long exhale, Kyubey squatted in front of her, his tail lashing from side to side. She eyed the alien a little suspiciously, still a little unused to having it around, not to mention that Kyubey had never been this gracious to her before. There had to be some sort of ulterior motive, or something, but her mind was still too buzzed to come up one.

"So," Homura said at last, her voice a little stronger this time, "Mind telling me how I got here?"

[_I was first alerted to your presence when Armadel reported an intense gathering of demons near the coastline,_] Kyubey responded, rubbing his paw into the dusty wooden planks. [_In such a wide open and underpopulated territory such as hers, a sudden concentration of demons felt worth investigating. I arrived soon after Armadel had taken care of the demons, and found you laying amongst the burning wreckage. She looked ready to kill you right then and there, that girl, but I had warned her beforehand not to touch you._]

"...Beforehand?" Homura echoed, pinching the bridge of her nose. To be honest, all this mental telepathy was only worsening her headache, but she would have to bear with it for now. There was no other way for her to get answers. She drew the blanket closer, waiting for Kyubey to continue.

[_I can't explain it myself. I recognized your magical signature from miles away, well before I actually arrived at the scene. It was almost as if you were blasting magic out of your own body,_] The alien explained. [_In fact, that is probably the reason for the demon's crowding around you like that. Armadel is a rather competitive individual, you see, and viewed you as a threat to her safety._]

"Well, I don't really blame her," Homura murmured, looking down at her own hands. "I don't even feel safe around myself, these days. You convinced her to help me, though?"

[_Yes. Though if you run into further trouble, I doubt you can count on any further assistance._]

Homura hadn't expected herself to be that lucky, but the thought still depressed her. Still, she was glad for Armadel's help, regardless of how fleeting it had been. She had never been helped by someone before without getting the opportunity to thank them later. It was a strange feeling, knowing that she was indebted to someone whom she would most likely never see again. It was a little confusing to think about, and it hurt her head more than was actually necessary, so she tried to stop thinking about it.

Refocusing on Kyubey, she slipped her glasses off her face and began to wipe the dirtied lenses with her shirt. "So, what have you been up to all this time, Kyubey?" She asked tiredly, already devoid of energy. "What have you been doing since we defeated the Radix?"

Kyubey sat back on his haunches, flicking his ears once before responding. [_Once Mitakihara became cleansed of demons, there was no reason for me to remain there,_] he said. [_I was reassigned to the area by the coastline, as it was a vast territory that needed a more experienced Incubator to manage it. Though in truth, keeping watch over Mitakihara was more difficult. So few humans live here that demons rarely show themselves like they did last night._]

Homura sighed and dragged her nail down the cracks in the wood. "Why does no one live by the coasts, anyway?" She griped. "Would've been nice to have a phone, or something, to call home with. Not even a gas station, for crying out loud..."

Kyubey shrugged, nonchalant as ever. [_If my understanding of Japanese history is correct, you once had many great cities by the coast. But after the series of earthquakes that took place throughout the end of the twenty first century, your government found it more profitable to abandon any civilization by the sea rather than rebuild what would only be destroyed again. Your race was hardly using ships to transport things by that age, anyways. It was a marginal loss._]

Homura snorted to herself. "Maybe I should start paying attention more in history," She muttered.

[_Perhaps._]

Smiling ironically to herself, Homura looked up and absorbed her surroundings again. It was getting windier outside, and the ancient wooden supports throughout the shack groaned beneath nature's onslaught. It occurred to her that this building must be very old, indeed; the apartments back at Mitakihara had wooden floors, certainly, but not the rotting, rough planks that she sat on now. The ones at home were fire retardant, and felt more like plastic than anything that came from a tree. Not to mention that the walls were made entirely of reinforced metals, not the weak looking sticks that held this house up. As synthetic as her apartment seemed in comparison, however, she found herself wishing she could return to it.

It was the first time she had had any yearning for something akin to "home."

Craning her neck, Homura peeked through a shattered window at the graying sky. Thunderheads were gathering on the small sliver of horizon she could make out through the cracked glass, ominous and foreboding. Pursing her lips, she placed one hand on her knee and hauled herself up to a standing position, feeling her aching head flare up again once she did.

[_I would advise that you avoid movement, Homura,_] Kyubey said, leaping atop a table to stand in her way. [_I can sense that your body is still very weak. It will need time and rest to recuperate._]

"I'm fine, Kyubey," Homura muttered, even as she swayed slowly in place. Trying to prove her point, she took a few wobbly steps forward. "I've been through worse, haven't I?"

Leaving the alien behind, she stepped cautiously into the hall, bringing a hand up to her nose to protect it from the thick coatings of dust. She had brought the blanket with her, as she tugged its hems up into a sort of breathing mask over her nose. The entire house smelled musty and moldy, most likely a product of the sprays of salt water that travelled in from the shore. It had been a long time since she had smelled the sea, and this shack absolutely reeked of it.

Proceeding down the hall, she peeked into the first room she passed. It appeared to be a large dining hall, with a massive table occupying its center. A great assortment of dishes and other silverware adorned its surface, almost all of them cracked and smeared with dust, the once gleaming forks and knives a shadow of their former selves. Gray strings hung from burned out candle holders, and broken chandeliers inhabited the ceiling. Everything looked white, gray, black, as if the sea had sucked all the color from the house. If Homura believed in ghosts, she would have automatically assumed that this place was haunted.

Humming thoughtfully, she retreated back into the hall and kept walking. She heard light footsteps behind her and knew that Kyubey was following close behind, as attentive as ever. She didn't remember the creature ever being so concerned for her well being, especially now that she no longer provided him with Grief Seeds. The alien's help was more that welcome, of course, but not understanding its source made her more than a little suspicious.

She reached the end of the hall and found the beginnings of a staircase spiraling upwards in front of her, high up into an unknown far above. Homura stopped in front of the first step and craned her neck upwards, trying to see where the flight ended, but her eyes failed her. She hadn't seen the shack from the outside, and therefore didn't know exactly how many floors it had.

Well, only one way to find out.

Clearing her throat quietly, Homura stepped onto the flight of stairs. The wooden planks creaked underneath her light weight, but held. Reaching out and placing one spindly hand on the railing for support, the shield user began to scale the steps, taking care to step carefully and not concentrate her gravity onto one spot. Kyubey leapt onto the other railing and followed her on his makeshift catwalk, watching her attentively all the while. A few minutes passed and she eventually found herself several feet above where she had originally started, and her head swam when she thought that it wouldn't be very pleasant if the staircase were to collapse beneath her. Homura didn't know if she had the strength to recover from a fall of this magnitude.

Her legs burned from exertion, and her breathing became ragged in no time, but Homura still pressed herself forward. She didn't know exactly what it was that drove her so, only the insatiable need to climb these accursed stairs, and learn a little more about where she was. Homura knew that it was much more practical to stay on the first floor and rest, but then she would have been indulging her ignorance, and ignorance was not bliss in the world she lived in. So she kept climbing, breathing heavily as she dragged herself up endless flights of stairs, the alien's shadow following her all the while.

Homura didn't know how long she took, but at long last she reached the top. The staircase had branched off into other floors and rooms multiple times, but the time traveler had ignored them in favor of reaching the peak. A weak looking wooden door stood before her and what was presumably the top floor of the shack, and for a moment she considered kicking it down. But as weak as the door was, Homura was weaker, and she settled for pushing it open instead. The door swung aside on rotten hinges and admitted her, and Homura's face was greeted with a wave of salty air.

The atmosphere up here felt moist and saturated, and Homura felt her pores opening up as she stepped into the room. It was a bedroom, most certainly; a small bed in the corner, and desk beside it. The same cobwebs and dusty panes covering everything, of course. Beyond it, the doors to what looked like a balcony; Homura crossed the room and placed her hands on the handles, pushing the doors aside and stepping out into the chilly world beyond.

The first thing that hit her was that she really was by the sea; it was in her nose, her eyes, the wind in her hair. Strong winds gusted through the thin blanket wrapped around her shoulders, causing it to billow out behind her like a cape. It was considerably less dusty up here, with all the wind and water that affected this balcony. Squinting tightly against the wind, but not having to raise a hand thanks to her glasses, Homura approached the railing and looked down.

Blue and gray. Those were the two things Homura's brain registered as she gazed at the awesome expanse of ocean before her, a great quicksilver colored sheen that stretched literally as far as the eye could see. She was not just by the sea, but right on top of it, as the shack was situated on a small outcropping of rock that was less than a hundred yards from the beach. As she looked down, she saw unforgiving waves crashing against a rocky shore.

To her right it was only green; it was an abrupt shift in color, so sudden in fact that it confused her brain somewhat at first glance. Nature had reclaimed much of what it had lost to mankind, and what had once been paved roads was now an endless grassland, great sprawling plains of green that rolled and waved about in the wind. The only thing remotely modern there was the small railroad that snaked its way through the rippling hills, and when Homura followed it to her left she saw the wreckage of the train still sitting there, most of the fires extinguished by now, but still smoking like there was no tomorrow.

There was a deep rumble from in front of her, and Homura looked back at the horizon to see a brief flash of lightning illuminating the horizon, for a moment rivaling the nonexistent sun. Little green spots remained on her vision after the fact.

Letting go of the railing, Homura stumbled back and fell into a chair, throwing her head back and staring at the monochrome sky. She knew the history, and she had heard it a second time from Kyubey, but a small part of her had still hoped that she wouldn't be totally isolated out here. But no, not a single smidgen of civilization, nothing around to even remind her that she was living in the twenty second century aside from the flaming wreck several hundred yards away. Despite Kyubey's presence, for the first time in a long while she felt completely and utterly _alone_, as if the sky had swallowed up everything around her in an instant.

She really was in the middle of nowhere.

Leaning forward and placing her chin on the railing, Homura glared somberly at the ocean, wondering how big she would have to be to see her own reflection in the razor sharp waters.

_Where are you, Kyouko?_

* * *

><p>"God damn it, Homura, where are you?" Kyouko muttered, crossing her arms over her chest and tapping her foot impatiently.<p>

The redhead had returned to their home hoping to find the shield user already there and waiting for her, but that had not been the case. Still undeterred, she had plopped herself down on the couch and resolved to wait until the girl did show up, but three hours later she was starting to get a little worried. The sun had set a while ago, and it was the beginnings of night outside, the sparse lamplights flickering on outside to illuminate a foreboding blackness.

She tried calling Homura's cell, listening to the other end burr into her ear for several moments. After a minute of waiting she expected it to go to voicemail, but instead a robotic voice answered and told her that the holder of this number either had her phone off or had terminated her account. Frowning at the small device in her hand, Kyouko shut it off and tossed it onto the couch, disgruntled. Homura's phone must be dead, or something.

She tried occupying herself by doing other things; she read a magazine, turned on the news and watched that for a while, as the moon rose higher and higher in the sky. But the same restless feeling wouldn't go away; the sense that something was wrong, something was _off._ Homura rarely ran off for hours on end without at least telling someone first, if ever. It didn't fit with her character. Grinding her teeth and baring her fangs at her faint reflection in the screen of the television, Kyouko shut it off and jumped off the couch, pacing around the living room in deep thought.

Resolving to take action, she picked up her phone again, this time speed dialing Mishki's house number. She pressed the receiver to her ear and tapped her foot impatiently, praying for the older woman to pick up.

She did. There was a brief crackle and then a familiar sounding voice, sounding tired. "_Hello?"_

"Yes! Mishki, hey," Kyouko said, starting despite herself. "Listen, has Homura been by your place?"

"_Not since you two left to see Kiku. I've been looking after the twins since. Why?"_

Kyouko deflated, her shoulders sagging slightly at the news. "Ah...nothing, I guess. It's just that something happened, and I had to leave Homura for a while. I'm home now, but she hasn't come back yet. I was just wondering if you'd seen her."

_"__Still out this late?" _Mishki's troubled tone matched Kyouko's tumultuous thoughts. _"Well...we all know she's a pretty responsible girl. I'm sure she has her reasons."_

"Yeah..." The redhead's voice trailed off. "Yeah, I'm sure she does."

_"__Don't worry too much, Kyouko. I'm sure she'll be back soon. Oh, and by the way, would you mind calling Kiku and telling her to swing by and take her stuff back?"_

"Did she leave something there?" Kyouko asked, examining her palm absentmindedly.

_"__Well, not exactly. But this stupid metal compass thing she left here keeps rattling around in its case, and it's driving me nuts. At least ask her how I can get the damn thing to shut up, or something."_

"Huh. Sure, I'll do that," Kyouko agreed, not really knowing what the guide was talking about. Metal compass thing? Whatever; she had bigger things to worry about. After a few more brief exchanges, she bid the woman farewell before terminating the call.

But her business wasn't done just yet; she still had one more person she could consult. Holding the cell in front of her, Kyouko punched in Kiku's number this time, waiting impatiently for the call to go through.

* * *

><p>It was a dark night at Mami's apartment, and Kiku was about to go around and switch all the lights on when the landline rang.<p>

Pausing instinctively, she glanced back at the small phone sitting on the kitchen counter, momentarily indecisive. Then she sighed and abandoned the light switches, striding over to the device and answering the call. It was pitch black in the apartment, and the bright glare of the machine's display hurt her eyes; as such, she didn't bother to read the caller ID before picking up the receiver and pressing it to her ear.

"Hello?"

_"__Hey, Kiku."_

The brunette froze, her fingers going icy cold in a nanosecond. She hadn't been expecting to hear this particular voice so soon, nor in any sort of setting besides face to face. Biting her lip nervously, the illusionist readjusted her grip on the receiver before forcing herself to deliver a casual reply, though it came out sounding more croaky than anything else.

"...Hey, Mami."

There was an immensely awkward silence after that one brief exchange, during which Kiku shifted uncomfortably in place, waiting for the blonde to pick up where they had left off. She was suddenly very glad that she hadn't turned on the lights first, because she could hide her face in the darkness.

At long last, Mami broke the stalemate.

_"__Look," _The voice from the other end of the line said, sounding hesitant and breathy. _"Look...um, I'm sorry I haven't come home yet. I'm on my way."_

"That's fine," Kiku replied quietly, almost whispering.

_"__I'll have to thank Homura properly later," _Mami continued, seeming to go off on a tangent. _"She could have just watched me fall, but she decided to help instead. Even after all the grief we've given each other...she looked completely exhausted when I left her on the train, poor thing..."_

The blonde was rambling, it seemed, and Kiku could only wait for the girl to wait it out. She didn't know the purpose for this call, or what it was meant to accomplish.

Finally, Mami seemed to calm down enough to recollect herself, and when she spoke again it was about something else entirely.

_"__I was picking up some things, looking into others...and doing some thinking, I guess. A lot of thinking. I've been thinking all day, really, and I think I've figured a few things out...things that you've known about forever. But I don't think they're the kind of thing you can talk about over a phone. I'll wait until we can speak face to face...I just wanted to call you first, I suppose, and tell you that I'm here, and that I'm on my way. Just wait for me a little longer, Kiku."_

The brunette smiled to herself, trying to suppress the facial expression but failing utterly. She was a complete pushover and she knew it. Mami would always be a massively soft spot in the illusionist's heart, and today was no exception. Deep down, Kiku knew that she had forgiven Mami the moment she ran out of the apartment.

"Okay. I'll be waiting."

Mami whispered a brief thank you, and the call cut itself off.

Kiku stood leaning against the wall for a while longer, staring into the unfathomable darkness of the apartment, for once welcoming the comfort of the unknown. Then she set her jaw and stood up fully, intending to go find those accursed light switches when the phone rang again in her hand.

Blinking, Kiku scrunched her nose and stared at the called ID this time. _Kyouko Sakura._ What could she want at this hour? Frowning to herself, the brunette answered the call.

"Hello?"

_"__Hey, Kiku. Listen, has Homura been by your place since I left?"_

"Huh? Oh, no. It's just been me. Why, is she not home yet?"

There was an exaggerated sigh from the other end of the line, and Kiku could feel the redhead's agitation through the connection. _"Yeah. It's getting late, and she isn't picking up her cell, either. Dead, or something. I tried calling Mishki, but she hasn't been around there either. Maybe she's still with Mami? Do you know where she is?"_

Kiku narrowed her eyes before walking over to the window, staring out over the skyline. "I don't think they're with each other anymore. Mami called a second ago and told me she's on her way here. She made it sound like they parted ways on the train."

_"__So she might still be on the train...wait, Mami called you?"_ Kyouko said, the surprise evident in her voice.

Kiku smiled. "Yeah."

_"__How did that go?"_

"Better than expected."

_"__I want all the juicy details later."_

"Could we just focus on finding your girlfriend, please?"

_"__Oh...right,"_ Kyouko acknowledged, the seriousness returning to her tone again. Kiku thought later that whenever it came to Homura, the redhead always seemed to intensify. _"So she's not here, or there, or at Mishki's..."_

"Not with Mami, not picking up her phone..." Now that she thought about it, the details really were a bit worrying. Homura didn't really make a habit of up and vanishing like this.

Kyouko had gone silent on her end of the call, apparently similarly consumed in thought. Chewing distractedly on her lip, Kiku left the window and headed towards her computer, flicking on a single light as she passed. A heavily shaded lamp awoke beside the couch as Kiku powered up her laptop and quickly punched in a password, accessing the internet as she kept the receiver between her shoulder and cheek.

"What line did you say Homura was on, again?" She asked, opening an informational site on all the graviton train lines that branched out from Mitakihara.

_"__The Shizuka line,"_ Kyouko responded quickly, probably catching onto her meaning.

Eyes scanning across the brightly lit screen, Kiku typed in the appropriate keywords before calling up everything there was no know about the train line in question. Her eyes widened slightly as they took in the information displayed there, her pupils reflecting the angry red with which the picture of the railroad was highlighted.

_"__Well?"_ Kyouko asked anxiously. _"Find anything?"_

"Looks like there's been an accident on the Shizuka line, a long way from here," Kiku murmured, scrolling down the page. "Derailed train car...the entire line's been closed down, too. Rerouted trips, cancellations, everything."

Kyouko breathed in sharply from the other end, and Kiku found herself gripping the receiver a little harder. _"An accident? You don't think-"_

"It might be," Kiku said, her eyes darting down lines of text. "Graviton trains don't have human drivers anymore, and they rarely have accidents, if at all. Says here it's the first crash in fifty years. Thanks to that, there wasn't a response for several hours after the incident."

_"__Any...any bodies?" _Kyouko asked, the fear palpable in her voice.

Kiku's own breathing was threatening to overtake the rest of her senses, but she forced herself to remain calm for Kyouko's sake, if not her own. It wouldn't do for the both of them to panic. Swiping with the pad across the page, she sought out the necessary information before regurgitating it into the phone.

"There was one registered passenger on the fourth car of the train, but their body has yet to be recovered from the wreckage," She read. "A search team will be sent out to find her, but for now she is listed as missing."

_"__That's got to be her," _Kyouko assumed fiercely. _"Kiku, we've got to get over there and-"_

"We don't know for sure," The brunette cut her off, her lips cut into a grim line. "It could've been anybody on that train, Kyouko. Not to mention the location of the crash; I don't know where this is, exactly, but Kyouko, it's _really_ far. Don't you think Homura would have gotten off way before that?"

There was a prolonged silence afterwards, and Kiku knew that Kyouko had been put off by her words. She hadn't meant to hurt the redhead's feelings, but she felt the need to be the rational one here. She was worried sick for Homura too, but jumping to conclusions wasn't going to help any. Narrowing her focus, Kiku continued searching the web for more information, opening up a series of pages as the line continued to remain silent.

_"__By the way, Mishki wanted me to tell you something,"_ Kyouko said at last, sounding obviously disgruntled. _"She wants you to come and pick up your noisy metal compass, or whatever."_

"Metal compass?" Kiku asked, not really paying attention, but confused nonetheless.

_"__Hell if I know. But she was complaining that it's rattling around and driving her nuts. You should probably get over there and take it back-"_

"Wait, that's it!" Kiku shouted, standing up so abruptly that she knocked the computer off her lap. The machine went tumbling into the corner, but she was too excited to go pick it up again. "That's the key, Kyouko! We can use that to find Homura!"

_"__Uh...sorry, I don't follow."_

"Listen, just meet me in front of Mishki's place as soon as you can," Kiku said, talking rapid fire into the receiver as she ran to get her coat. "I'll explain everything when we get there. Just trust me, Kyouko!"

Terminating the call a moment later, she placed the receiver back on its stand and was about to run out the door when another thought occurred to her. Turning on her heel, she yanked open a few drawers in the kitchen until she found a dusty old compass, pulling it out from under a pile of musty books.

Then she tore out a note and sat down with an uncapped pen, taking a deep breath before putting it to the paper.

_Dear Mami,_ she wrote, _I know you asked me to wait a little longer, but I don't think I can, and for that I apologize. Homura's in trouble, and like you said, we both owe her so much. Kyouko and I are going to go find her, and bring her back home. I know this might be selfish of me, but please wait for me, if just for a little longer. Love, Kiku._

She stared at the brief message for what felt like an eternity, wondering if there was anything else that she should add, but ultimately decided against it. There were more things she would have liked to say, but like Mami had said, those things were better said face to face. It would have to wait.

Tossing the pen back into its holder, Kiku left the note on the counter and plucked the compass up, slipping into her shoes and pushing the door open without hesitation.

She looked back, but only briefly.

* * *

><p>"So would you mind telling me what the hell is going on?" Kyouko grumbled, jogging up to stand by the brunette's side, in front of the door.<p>

"It all goes back to the reason why Homura and I had our argument in the first place," Kiku explained, reaching forward and pressing the doorbell insistently. "I found a small glass case and put a little metal stick inside of it. I enchanted the metal with my magic to always want to be by Homura's side, and as soon as the spell took effect it started rattling against the side of the case, trying to get at her."

"Why the hell would that make the two of you fight?" Kyouko asked, sounding absolutely dumfounded.

Before Kiku could respond, the door was pulled aside, and Mishki poked her head through the opening.

"Oh, you two again," She greeted them. "Here to take that annoying little thing back, I presume?"

"Where did you put it?" Kiku asked urgently, almost forcing her way into the apartment. Mishki blinked at the girl's vigor, gesturing vaguely at the room behind her.

"In the corner over there, underneath all those pillows. Damn thing wouldn't shut up!"

Dashing past the guide, Kiku strode into the living room and approached the small mountain of pillows that populated the corner of the room. A muted, but distinct rattling sound could be heard from within the depths of the cushions, reverberating outwards at a steady and constant rate. Mishki slapped her hands to her ears and groaned as Kiku knelt and began to dig the metal compass out, tossing the pillows aside until she unearthed the small glass vial, holding it up to the light so that Kyouko could see the little metal piece jerking about inside of it.

"Is that it?" Kyouko asked, looking a bit underwhelmed.

"When I cast illusionary magic, I can only create images that I understand myself," Kiku replied solemnly, turning the vial over in her hands. "For this spell, I used the image of a loyal dog, always yearning to be with his master. I told Homura that I understood this image because of my relationship with Mami. She got a little angry at my degrading myself, and the rest is history."

Kyouko's eyes widened, and she looked at the metal piece with renewed appreciation. "So you're saying...that little thing is pointing towards Homura, right now?"

Kiku nodded. The redhead whistled, impressed at last.

"Woah, okay," Mishki interrupted, stepping between the two of them. "Would someone please tell me what's going on? What does this all have to do with Homura? Has she still not come home yet?"

The illusionist exchanged a brief glance with Kyouko, who decided it was up to her to do the explaining.

"We think Homura might have gotten into an accident," She said softly. "That, or she's lost somewhere, far away from here. We're going to go find her."

Mishki blinked in shock. "What? How do you know that?"

The redhead eyed Kiku a second time. "It's...kind of hard to explain."

The guide shook her head, placing a hand to her temple. "Well, whatever it is, I'm coming with you," She said. "Lord knows what that girl has gotten herself into this time-"

The older woman was abruptly cut off when a loud crash emanated from the kitchen, and the sound of Four yelping penetrated the walls of the apartment. Kyouko and Kiku both jumped at the sudden noise.

"Four broke another cup!" Another voice, presumably Five's, hollered from the kitchen. Mishki rolled her eyes, sighing to herself.

"Make sure you don't touch it!" The guide yelled back. "I'll clean it up in a second!" Turning back to the two girls, she attempted to resume her sentence, saying, "Anyways, I have a car. We can take it if we need to go-"

Mishki was interrupted yet again, however, when a loud boom shook the walls of the apartment. All three of them instinctively threw their arms over their heads and took cover, but when there were no further disturbances, Mishki was the first to run over to the kitchen, where the rumble had originated. The guide slipped past a door that was hanging open, turning the corner and witnessing the scene on the other side of the wall. "Oh, shit," The woman's voice murmured a moment later.

Exchanging glances, the two younger girls strode after Mishki, peeking into the kitchen from behind the door.

"Looks like she did it again," Kyouko muttered.

The floor was, indeed, scorched a deep powdery black; there was the smell of something burning in the air, and the presence of magic was extremely prevalent all around them. Four was sitting on the floor in the epicenter of the blast, looking more curious than scared compared to the last time. Before him sat yet another perfectly resurrected cup, absolutely devoid of flaws. For Kyouko, it was a massive case of deja vu.

"Alright, alright," Mishki murmured, walking slowly towards the twins. Kyouko made the follow suit, but Kiku grabbed her by the shoulder, drawing the redhead's attention.

"We might not have time for this," The brunette said, holding up the metal compass in reminder. "We should probably move as quickly as we can, before something really happens to Homura."

Kyouko froze in her tracks, looking conflicted as the reality settled down on her. She wanted to be there for the twins, but she had to be there for Homura too. Looking back at the kitchen, she found Mishki looking sympathetically back at the redhead. Before she could say anything, the guide dug a pair of keys from her pocket and tossed it. Kyouko instinctively caught it, fumbling with the sharp metal teeth for a moment.

"Car's sitting out in the back. I'll give you twenty four hours," Mishki said, offering them both a confident smile. "Don't worry about the twins. I'll take care of everything here; just go find Homura."

Kyouko stared back at the guide for a moment, endless amounts of gratitude rising in her chest. "Thanks, Mishki."

"Don't thank me just yet. Now go!"

"Come on," Kiku said, tugging on the redhead's arm, and the two of them left the apartment, stepping back into the cool night air beyond the door.

Once outside, the illusionist dug the compass she had brought from home out of her pocket, holding it in her free hand. She held the two compasses beside each other, comparing the direction that the little metal piece was pointing.

"Which way are we headed?" Kyouko asked, leaning over the brunette's shoulder.

"This one says southwest," Kiku replied, holding up the metal compass in one hand. "Which, coincidentally, is the same direction as the Shizuka line."

Kyouko exhaled slowly, staring out at the city that sprawled out before her. There was a little light that was fixed above Mishki's door, illuminating everything near it a dirty orange color. It stained Kiku's skin, the compasses in her hands, and little slice of night sky around them. A small family of little insects crowded around the meager light, and Kyouko saw herself in them. If only there was one more insect, one with dark hair and a red ribbon, to join them. Then she wouldn't mind how weak the light became.

Closing her eyes, this time Kyouko exhaled loudly and deeply, preparing herself for the journey ahead. It was time for her to follow her own advice. If she wanted change, she had to instigate.

"Come on," The redhead prompted, slipping her hands into her pockets and pulling out Mishki's keys. "Let's not waste any time."

The car was sitting in a small parking lot behind the apartment, as promised. Kyouko hadn't watched enough television to know what kind of car it was, but Kiku was apparently knowledgeable enough to tell her that it was a Jeep. They hadn't discussed beforehand who would be doing the driving, but Kyouko took the initiative by hopping into the driver's seat first. Kiku raised a speculative eyebrow before shrugging to herself; it wasn't like she knew how to drive, anyway.

"Do you have your wallet with you?" Kiku asked offhandedly, walking around the car and entering through the passenger seat. The leather casing was worn and soft, and her spine molded right into it.

"No. Why?" Kyouko grunted, sticking the keys into the ignition and turning them. The engine roared to life a moment later. Really, in this day and age, a key and ignition car? Mishki really needed to get with the times.

The illusionist frowned as the car hummed beneath them, the steady growl of the engine filling the night with its ambience. "Well, I mean...where do you keep your license?"

"What license?" Kyouko asked irritably, yanking the door closed. Putting the car into reverse, she began backing up out of the parking space.

"Your _driver's_ license?" Kiku elaborated, by now thoroughly exasperated. "You know, that thing that says you're legally allowed to drive?"

"Oh, please. I know what that is," Kyouko snorted. She finished backing up and put the car back in drive, flexing her shoulders once before placing her hands securely on the wheel. "I just never got one, is all."

The brunette gawked. "_What_?"

The redhead grinned wickedly at her, then slammed her boot into the gas pedal. "Hang tight, Kiku. I don't obey speed limits."

Kiku was about to launch a vehement protest, but her words were stretched out by the wind as the car launched forward, galloping them both into the night.

"KYOUUUUKOOO!"

* * *

><p><em>Kyouko!<em>

Homura snapped awake, the last remnants of her dream fading away quicker than the dying light. She sat in her chair for several moments, not moving, her chest rising and falling slowly as she struggled to regain her composure. A thick sheen of sweat was coating her entire head, and for a moment she wondered if it had been raining. The clouds had looked like it, not too long ago.

What time was it, anyway?

Leaning forward in her chair, Homura rubbed at her ragged eyes and looked around. She was still on the balcony that sat atop the highest floor of the abandoned shack, having fallen asleep in a small reclining chair she had found in the room behind her. It was very nearly night now, and when the time traveler looked out at the horizon she saw the last cusp of the sun peeking out over it, painting a small sliver of the sky a deep orange. The rest of the world was black and blue; when she looked down at where the sea had once been she could hear only the gentle roar of the waves, but not see the crests themselves.

The thin blanket shifted away from her shoulders, and Homura found herself shuddering violently from cold. She hadn't really put much thought to the fact, but it was absolutely _freezing_ by the ocean, especially at night. She had been able to ignore the temperature in her sleep, but now that she was awake she was paying the price in full, and with added interest. Teeth chattering noisily, Homura looked around for Kyubey but found his absent. As odd as the alien's hospitality had felt earlier, she felt a small pang of loss. She knew she shouldn't have expected the creature to stick around when he probably had better things to do, but it left her feeling that much more alone, regardless.

A cutting wind swept through her then, and she scurried back inside.

The interior of the shack was even creepier at night, and Homura had to avoid recalling all the horror movies she had watched with Kyouko as she trudged slowly down the spiraling staircase. Those films hadn't been very scary at the time, but she had had Kyouko to curl up to then, and it had been but a fantasy. Now she had no redhead to protect her, and this tale was very much a reality. As such, Homura tried to keep her mind devoid of all thoughts until she reached the bottom floor.

She padded down the dusty hall again, yawning once as she turned into the room where she had first regained consciousness. Homura had expected to find the chamber completely isolated, save some reminiscent paw prints, and so she was rather surprised to find Kyubey sitting in front of the dormant fireplace, as if he had been waiting for her.

"Kyubey," Homura said, failing to mask her surprise. "I thought you'd left."

[_I would have, but no urgent business came up,_] The alien responded, rising to all four feet. [_I figured I could stay, and be sure of your well being for as long as possible_.]

Homura smirked weakly, clutching at the hems of her blanket. "Getting sentimental now, are we?"

[_Don't be ridiculous. My race abandoned sentiment eons ago._ _I am simply making an investment, should you be useful to me in the future._]

The shield user's brief smile fell off her face, and she looked down at herself. "Not very likely, if you ask me," She said quietly. Kyubey probably heard her, she knew, but the alien did not respond to her words. Instead, he pushed something small and box shaped towards her, the mysterious object grating across the worn wooden floor.

Frowning, Homura knelt and picked the object up. "What's this?" She asked, turning it over in her hands. Her nails found a small slit near the top and flipped it open, revealing the mechanism beneath. "Oh, a lighter," She muttered, running the pad of her thumb slowly along the rigged wheel of the flint.

[_I took the liberty of gathering some firewood,_] Kyubey elaborated, and for the first time Homura noticed the small pile of planks and branches piled up in the dormant fireplace. [_I have no need for heat to survive, but humans are different. Even with your magical nature, your body will succumb to extreme temperatures. Use that to stay warm._]

Homura stared down at the lighter, then at Kyubey, then at the fireplace, then back at Kyubey again. She thought of the shivers wracking her body, of the knuckles that clutched the blanket around her thin shoulders, knuckles that had been rubbed raw by the cold, and in her chest she could only feel gratitude. Gratitude for an alien she had spent the vast majority of her life hunting down and killing. Life worked in amusing ways.

Flicking the flint, Homura activated the lighter. A small flame sprang forth from the casing, bathing her thumb in delicious warmth. "Thank you, Kyubey."

[_Your gratitude is misplaced, Akemi Homura. Like I said, this is merely an investment._]

The firewood didn't light very easily, damp as it was; the branches especially, as Homura assumed that they had been gathered from outside, where the air itself was dripping with moisture. She needed to dry these branches out somehow, but with what? It wasn't as if she had bothered to stuff a bellows into her storage portals at any point, and if even if she had, there was no way she was going to risk using magic now. Not after the massive mess it had gotten her into.

Finally, Homura found a somewhat roundabout solution to her problem. Getting up and walking to the other side of the room, she picked up her shotgun and carried it back over to the fireplace. Cracking the weapon open, she twisted a few screws until she opened the chamber that contained the gunpowder. Being careful not to drop any, she tapped an incredibly small amount onto her thumb, so small that she could hardly make it out. She didn't want to accidentally blow up the entire shack, because that would have been rather bad.

Sprinkling the small helping of gunpowder onto the wood, she flicked open the lighter and ignited it.

There was a brief flash of light, then a small fizzing sound as the gunpowder incinerated itself, instantly dehydrating the wood it was resting upon. The combustion also ignited the branches, and Homura felt relief blossom in her heart when the firewood actually caught fire, small little flames licking their way across the branches to fill the fireplace. She set the lighter and her shotgun aside, letting nature strengthen the flame on its own.

Sighing, Homura sat back and crossed her legs, pulling the blanket back around her shoulders. She rested her elbows on her knees and cupped her face with both hands, staring into the endless flames with little conviction. Kyubey curled into a tight ball in front of the fire, but remained wordless, giving Homura the chance to do some thinking. It was still early in the afternoon, though the grayness outside made it seem otherwise, and she had nothing else to do but sit here in front of the fire and try not to freeze to death, other than occupy her mind with some errant thoughts.

Picking up a small twig that had fallen out of the pile, Homura poked absently at the fire, doing her best to stoke it. The wind moaned ominously throughout the rest of the house, like a haunted lullaby.

She had really messed up this time, and she knew it. Homura had known that her "soul sickness" was a major problem from the start, but she had continually ignored the more rational part of her mind, endlessly convincing herself that it was fine, that things were going to be okay, that it really wasn't that big of a deal. So she got a little tired; who cared? Maybe she got headaches, but the glasses had taken care of that, mostly. It wasn't so bad, was it?

But that wasn't true, far from it really, and Homura was finally too exhausted to continue denying that fact. Something was _wrong_ with her, and it scared her to think that. She had cried while admitting it to Kyouko. She felt like crying now, too, but that wouldn't accomplish anything. But she had been a fool to try to do everything on her own. She should have called Kyouko and told her where she was, or Kiku, or _anybody_, instead of assuming she would be able to wake up in time to leave a train when she knew her body was run almost beyond repair. Fool, damn fool she was, for refusing to admit her own weakness. And now here she was, stuck out in the middle of nowhere without a single speck of civilization for miles upon miles.

What was she going to do? Walk? The idea alone was appalling to her; she was tired from climbing a flight of stairs and coming back down again, for crying out loud. The effort would most likely kill her. Walk where, anyway? She had no idea where the closest city was. Follow the tracks maybe, or wait by the train wreckage until someone came and found her?

[_Don't even think about going near that train wreck,_] Kyubey warned her, apparently intercepting her thoughts. [_I went back to sniff it out, and your magical signature is plastered all over the place. Given another several hours, more demons will be swarming around that place. They might not be a direct threat to normal humans, and Armadel may take care of them in time, but for now you need to stay away from there. Right now, those tracks are your worst enemy._]

_No,_ Homura thought to herself, _I am._

She continued prodding the fire for a while longer. She considered more possibilities; perhaps she could gather her strength, transform, then fly as far as she could get? If she was lucky, she might make it close enough to the next town for someone to see her falling out of the sky, and perhaps someone would help her. But then how would she explain the massive, angelic wings, or how the hell she had been flying in the first place? Besides, there was good chance she'd just faint immediately and get thrown into the ocean by the wind. Which didn't sound like a very pleasant way to go.

"Couldn't you call Armadel and ask her to help me back home?" Homura said suddenly, turning to recall Kyubey's attention. "Is she the only magical girl in this area?"

Kyubey lifted his head and met Homura's eyes, flicking his ears back before responding. [_Yes, she is. But I doubt she would help you, knowing her. In fact, I have already asked._]

"And her response?"

[_A flat refusal._]

Homura swore softly and hurled the twig into the fire. It caught flame and blackened immediately, crumbling into dust. Still, she kept herself from losing her composure; she might have done the same, should she have been in Armadel's place. The girl was not obligated to help her. It was Homura's own fault, really, for getting into this whole mess to begin with.

The shield user continued staring into the fire, struggling with a bevy of emotions within her chest. Then the girl's brow furrowed, and suddenly she felt angry, angry at the world, angry at her misfortune, angry at herself. What had she done to deserve all this? Had she not suffered her lot in life already, ten times over? She wanted nothing more than a simple, undisturbed existence, one where she and Kyouko could be together in peace, so that they may live out the rest of their lives in happiness. Yet instead her soul was made cancerous, her will weakened and her future blackened. It seemed for every step she made forward, the universe dragged her two paces back.

Homura clenched her fists tightly, exerting so much force into the movement that her weak, bony arms began to shake violently. She was just so disgusted by it all, the karmic balance in the world, the way her life had been lately: so upset, so disillusioned, that she felt that if she were made queen of the universe she would be forced to destroy everything and redo it all from scratch. Her anger overwhelmed her to the point of exhaustion, and Homura found herself breathing heavily as the fire spat before her, as if reveling in her agitation.

Kyubey noticed this and gently swatted one balled up fist with his ear. [_Do not lose your level head, Akemi Homura. It is one of your greatest assets. What will loosing your cool now accomplish for you?_]

The alien was right, she knew, but the desire to lash out at what she thought to be wrong still remained. That destructive element of her soul was what made it all so difficult. Closing her eyes, Homura inhaled slowly, her breath shuddering as she did, her shoulders shaking as if she were sobbing, which she didn't think she was, unless her tears had finally become silent and thoughtless.

"What's wrong with me, Kyubey?" She asked softly, staring down at her own hands.

[_I don't know,_] The alien said honestly, letting his ear fall back down to the floor. [_From my perspective, it is almost as if you are leaking magic from your own body; actually, that is literally what it is. It feels like you are using magic right now, when in fact you are not. I have never encountered anything like it before._] Homura smiled bitterly. "I guess I've become the anomaly, now."

Kyubey shifted in his sitting position. [_I suppose you could say that. Then again, the rules have never really applied to you. You've accomplished the impossible on more than one occasion. So I am not impressed by your predicament._]

The shield user smirked. "I suppose it would have been a little too much for me to expect your concern."

[_Quite the contrary, actually,_] Kyubey corrected her. He stood up and walked over until he was standing in front of Homura's lap, his silhouette outlined in red by the fire. His gleaming eyes matched the flames. [_You have a history of acting irrationally when the situation becomes dire. That is a statement backed by statistical fact, and you would be hard headed to deny it._]

"I'm not denying it," Homura growled back, flicking at the alien. "But...what does that have to do with anything?"

Kyubey stared back at her for a moment, an unfathomable look in his eyes. It was a strange sensation to Homura, who had always felt that she understood the Incubator the most, at least when it came to the other girls. Being emotionless, cold, calculating; she had that greatest capacity for that. As such, she had always held a begrudging respect for Kyubey. But she could not understand the alien's expression now. Something was off, something was new, and after a moment's consideration Homura realized that it was because the alien's face seemed tainted by emotion.

Finally, Kyubey seemed to sigh, or whatever his mouthless equivalent of that was. He hung his head between his shoulders before lifting it to address Homura again.

[_Do not let this disease destroy your willpower, Homura. When everything is on the line, you have a tendency to risk your own safety in order to tip the scales. You did it when you rewrote the universe, and I witnessed it again when you took down the Radix. Both times, fortune favored you; but do not expect your luck to last. What you are dealing with right now may seem malignant, but you have endured worse. I would only implore you to continue thinking rationally, lest you do something reckless again without considering the consequences. I do not believe Kyouko would be too pleased should you become unlucky the next time._]

Homura gazed at Kyubey for a very long time, digesting the alien's words. It was the first time he had used someone she cared about to add weight to his argument. That in itself was strange, really, because she had assumed that Kyubey considered such things like compassion worthless. He had told her not to let it show, long ago, hadn't he?

The furry hypocrite.

Closing her eyes at last, Homura reached out and patted Kyubey's head dismissively. "I hear you, Kyubey. I'll do that." The white creature nodded his head in acceptance, then went back to curling up near the fire, seeming to fall into a deep slumber within a moment's notice.

Deciding that she should follow the alien's example, Homura reached over and weakened the fire, smothering it in some extra firewood, so that it would burn throughout the night and could be reawakened when she needed it. She supposed it was a good thing that she had actually paid attention when their class read the Japanese translation of _Hatchet._

Making sure to keep her guns by her side, Homura dusted the floor around her general vicinity and laid down on top of it, drawing the blanket up to her chin. She still didn't know how she was going to get home, but wearing herself out further wasn't going to accomplish anything.

Maybe she would have some new ideas in the morning.

Closing her eyes, Homura fell asleep with one hand on the barrel of her pistol.

* * *

><p>Kyouko tapped the steering wheel of the car in agitation, willing the vehicle to go a little faster.<p>

She had had a little trouble adjusting to the roads at first, seeing as she never really made a habit of driving other people's cars, a slight problem that had left Kiku absolutely terrified in the passenger seat. The brunette had screamed at her to slow down at least eight times; really, what was the big deal? She was only going sixty! Didn't the girl know that this car could go up to one fifty if she wanted it to?

A few more minutes on the road had helped her acclimate, however, and soon enough Kyouko was able to drive with a precision that satisfied Kiku. The illusionist held the metal compass in her hand and started directing Kyouko, altering her instructions based on where the metal piece pointed. After a few adjustments, however, the compass remained in a constant direction, and Kiku set it down on the dashboard for the time being.

It was well into the night by now, and they had left Mitakihara behind an hour ago. The roadsides were still heavily populated with buildings and people for a while, but they had finally left most of civilization behind within the last ten minutes or so, as the Jeep trundled closer and closer to the relatively uninhabited shore. After living in bustling metropolises like Kazamino and Mitakihara for much of her life, seeing absolutely no sign of human life around her was making Kyouko more than a little nervous.

Looking to her left, she saw that Kiku had fallen asleep in the passenger seat. The brunette was snoring with her head thrown back against the seat, murmuring something about cupcakes or whatnot, which made the redhead smirk in amusement. Though she probably wouldn't have, if Homura had been around to tell her that she was even worse.

Letting her vision go out of focus, Kyouko wandered off into her thoughts. The road was straight, and there was no one around; she could afford some lapses in attention right? Homura probably would have rebuked her and told her to pay attention to the road, and for a moment, the redhead thought that she would have liked that, for once. She had been apart from the time traveler for only a day, and already her soul felt hollow.

_Homura._ Setting her jaw, Kyouko pressed the gas pedal a little harder, coaxing more speed out of the car. Wherever the girl was, she could only pray that she was okay. Out here, far out in the middle of nowhere, she could at least be assured that there were no human threats for Homura to face. But there were supernatural threats, namely demons. She and Kiku had taken care to mask their own signatures before leaving the city limits, but Homura might not have had that luxury.

Her only comfort was that Homura was definitely still alive. Kiku had told her that the compass wouldn't be working if there was no magical source for it to be drawn towards; as long as that little metal piece moved, there was still hope.

Something blotted at the edge of her vision, and Kyouko looked up to realize that it had finally begun to rain. It was just a light sprinkle at the moment, but it was already intensifying, and she knew it would be a storm in no time.

The little plinking sounds the rain made aroused Kiku from her sleep, the brunette yawning as she sat up in her seat. "Are we there yet?" She asked sluggishly, rubbing at her eyes.

Kyouko snorted, going back to watching the road. "What do you mean, 'there'? I'm just following your stupid compass thing, here."

Kiku looked around their general vicinity, leaning to the side so that she could peek at the passing grasslands through the window. "Oh, so we haven't crashed yet," She said blandly, still rubbing the sleep from her face.

Kyouko's eyebrow twitched. "If you want to crash so bad, I can arrange that."

"Yeah, yeah."

They drove in silence for a while, Kiku picking up the compass and watching it carefully. It did not shift its direction however, and she set it down on her lap, turning her head to watch the thunderheads approach them.

"You been thinking?" She asked, her eyes on the grasslands.

Kyouko kept her own irises on the road. It was like an endless tunnel stretching out before her, and for a moment she questioned the validity of infinity. "Yeah."

Kiku hummed in understanding, and the gentle hum of the engine crowded between them again. The gentle crush of gravel beneath the wheels, the somewhat soothing pit pat of the rain against their windshield; Kyouko would have been content to stay like that for a while, but Kiku was the talkative type.

"About what?"

The redhead pursed her lips, gripping the steering wheel harder. "You know what."

Kiku narrowed her eyes in comprehension and looked down at her lap again, stroking her fingers over the glass case. "She's going to be alright, Kyouko. Homura's a strong girl."

Kyouko didn't respond to the girl's assertion at once, instead driving another mile or so in silence, as the drops of rain smacking into the windshield began to fatten. Reaching over, she turned on the wipers, their gentle _wum, wum_ adding to the ambience.

"I know," She said at last, but the words came out whispered and...tentative. "Or...she was. I don't know anymore. Homura might not be as strong as she used to be."

She could feel Kiku eyeing her, but didn't dare turn her head to meet the brunette's gaze. She had to keep her eyes on the road, right? Safety first...

"Something really is wrong with her, isn't there?" The illusionist asked quietly, her voice but a hush.

"Yeah," Kyouko replied, her knuckles turning white from the pressure she was exerting upon them. The leather encasing the steering wheel whined in protest. "She's sick, Kiku. She says it feels like everything hurts. And I...can't do a damn thing about it."

Her voice was wobbly, and she hated herself for it. Guardian angel, her ass. She couldn't even protect her own weaknesses. How was she supposed to shield Homura from an enemy she couldn't see, much less fight? The world wasn't fair.

Then a hand was on her shoulder, and Kyouko turned her head slightly to see Kiku looking sternly at her.

"Don't give up just yet, Kyouko," The illusionist said firmly, giving the redhead's shoulder a squeeze. "It isn't over. You don't know that yet. You're going to find Homura, and everything's going to be fine."

"Yeah, find her, and then what?" Kyouko muttered, blinking a little faster than normal as she struggled to focus on the road. "Homura always tells me that I never think things through. Even if I find her, what am I supposed to do? Take her back home and watch her wither away? What's the point in all that? What if I lose her?"

Kiku seemed to fall silent for a moment, and Kyouko reveled in the silence.

"Stop the car."

"What?"

"I said stop the car!"

Before Kyouko could react, Kiku reached over and threw the wheel to the side, sending the car veering towards the edge of the road. The redhead swore and shoved the brunette aside, taking control of the wheel and slamming the brakes at the same time. The car came to a grinding halt on the side of the road, the gravel steaming beneath the stressed tires. Kyouko breathed heavily in disbelief, staring at the windshield. Then she turned to Kiku and bared her teeth.

"What the _hell_ was that for?"

But Kiku was already grabbing her by the shoulders, then shaking her like a rag doll. "Listen to me, Kyouko. You can't give up on Homura! She _needs_ you. How could you tell me not to give up on Mami and then act like this?"

Kyouko hissed in the girl's fist, her fingers still locked around the steering wheel. "Mami isn't _dying._"

"It doesn't matter," Kiku dismissed, gripping Kyouko's shoulders even harder. "Even if I know I don't have a chance with Mami, I'm still trying my hardest. Because trying and then failing...is infinitely better than losing her for sure."

The redhead averted her gaze, staring angrily down at her seat. "What are you trying to say?" She muttered, the stress evident in her voice, her eyes.

Kiku's gaze softened, and her grip loosened. "Don't lose faith in Homura, Kyouko. She needs it more than you know. She deserves that much, at least, right?"

Kyouko continued staring at the edge of her seat, her eyes swirling with a mix of emotions. "Let go of me, you idiot," She growled at last. "I'm trying to drive here."

Kiku released the redhead's shoulders, settling back into her own seat. Kyouko wordlessly started the car up again and put it into gear, turning the wheel so that she could reenter the road. Kiku watched her the entire time, searching for some kind of change in the girl's expression. But there was none, and the illusionist's shoulders slumped. So her words had been meaningless.

"And just so you know," Kyouko said suddenly, "I never once said I was giving up on her. I just...get frustrated sometimes, is all. You know that."

Kiku's eyes went wide as Kyouko blushed slightly and made a conscious effort to keep her eyes forward. Then, grinning, the brunette leaned over and drilled her knuckle in the redhead's skull.

"Gosh, you really are a tsundere, aren't you?" She teased.

"Ow! I said I was trying to _drive_, goddammit!" Kyouko bellowed. She brought one arm up and drove her elbow into Kiku's stomach, sending the small girl flying back into the inside of the car door.

"Ouch! Hey!" Kiku yelled, reaching up to clutch at her head. "That really hurt!"

"The feeling is mutual!"

"Why, you-"

* * *

><p>Homura was woken by the sound of thunder.<p>

Her eyes slipped open, quickly but quietly, as the last remnants of the heaven's roar scrambled back towards the horizon. Blinking slowly, she put one hand to the floor and sat up, letting the blanket fall off her shoulders. Mind already on high alert, Homura reached out and felt her fingers close around the cold handle of her shotgun. She leaned backwards and dragged her pistol towards her too, slipping the small arm into the hook of her belt. Her eyes scanned the room, apprehensive.

It hadn't just been the storm that woke her up.

She was still a little rusty, but the air absolutely reeked of demons.

[_We have company,_] Kyubey said needlessly, already aroused from his sleep. The alien's eyes were like two crimson suns floating in front of her in the pitch darkness. Looking to the side, Homura realized that the fire had been extinguished sometime during the night, possibly by a draft; it was but a small pile of glowing coals now. There was a low moan that permeated through the walls of the shack, and the ceiling shuddered underneath gallons of rainwater. The storm that Homura had predicted was now here in full force.

[_Do you have any ideas?_] She whispered back, although she could have been as loud as she wanted, given that it was mental telepathy. The alien bounded towards her and leapt onto the girl's shoulder, his tail poised high to maintain balance. Homura gripped her shotgun more securely and stood up all the way, ignoring the cold for now. It wouldn't do to fight in a blanket.

[_Just stay on alert for now,_] Kyubey replied, blinking once. [_The storm may distract them; perhaps the demons will not notice your magic leakage in the rain._]

[_Does that actually have an effect?_] Homura asked, wholly skeptical.

The alien swished his tail. [_I doubt it. But we can only pray._]

Pray, Homura thought as she slowly sat down cross legged by the fireplace again. So strange, to hear that from an Incubator's mouth. Who did the alien plan to pray to, then? Homura had her own goddess, however, and she closed her eyes and send a quick message to whatever heavens existed above her, hoping that Madoka was holding fast to her promise to always watch over them.

Then she opened her eyes and settled in for the long wait, gaze fixed on the door. The coals sizzled to her side, but otherwise there was nothing besides the howling of the storm beyond the walls. She could see it raging through the windows; sheets of rain coming down like liquid hail, and beyond that, waves the size of mountains. It briefly occurred to her that the shack was situated not very high up from the water, but she squashed the thought. No use worrying about it.

She passed what felt like an hour sitting like that, every sense on high alert. Her resolve was not what it had once been, however, and Homura soon found herself dozing off to sleep again. Kyubey slapped her with his tail whenever he noticed her nodding off, but even he couldn't catch everything. Homura's eyelids became heavier by the minute, and though she tried to fight her exhaustion, her body insisted.

Darkness descended upon her vision...

[_Homura!_]

Eyes flying open again, as a dozen demons smashed in through the glass, filling the room with their poisonous aura. A shard of broken glass whistled through the air and blew right by Homura's face, slicing the skin of her cheek open. A thick sheet of blood began to drip down the nape of her neck, and it was the hot sensation of her own bodily fluids against her skin that fully aroused her. Scrambling to her feet, Homura leveled her shotgun and fired a warning shot, catching two enemies within the spray.

Pumping the weapon, she looked down and swore when she saw that she had only eight shots left. Transforming now to draw more ammo was too risky; if she collapsed here, it was undoubtedly over. There were no trains around to help her this time. She stood frozen there for a moment, her mind not the razor sharp knife it usually was, conflicted about what her next course of action should be.

[_No time to think, Homura! Run!_] Kyubey commanded her, and Homura found her feet turning and then she was running, fleeing out of the room and down the dust covered hall, as fresh waves of demons poured in through the front door of the shack. A brilliantly bright flash of lightning lit up the entire hall, and Homura instinctively ducked her head when the inevitable thunder roared across the horizon.

"Where do you expect me to run?" She yelled into the wind, feeling Kyubey's weight on her shoulder. "I have nowhere to go!"

[_It doesn't matter. We were caught unawares, and you lack the firepower to make a stand,_] The alien snapped back, for once sounding truly agitated. [_For now, we need as much distance between us and them as possible!_]

Homura cursed as her shoes struck the first wooden step of the spiraling staircase she had so laboriously climbed just hours earlier. She didn't have the luxury of taking her time, not this time. She would have to run, even if it meant using up the last of her energy. Sucking up a huge breath, Homura began to sprint up the steps, her lungs and legs screaming in agony with every step.

There was a massive crash beneath her, and Homura made the mistake of looking down. A tidal wave of demons had crashed down the hall and overshot the staircase, plowing into the wall opposite and causing the entire facade to cave inwards. It was a mess of black bodies and wooden splinters as the demons struggled to uproot themselves from the wreckage, plumes of dust and smoke rising up to assault the shield user's eyes. Homura coughed and forced herself to move faster, knowing she had to take all the stalls she could get.

The demons were fast than expected, however, and Homura got only halfway up the staircase before they caught up to her. The time traveler collapsed against the railing when a large section of the staircase was utterly obliterated below her, the force of the impact sending a deep shudder throughout the entire infrastructure. Looking down again, she was terrified to see the monsters rising up meet her, almost at the ends of her feet. Falling to her back and scrambling backwards, she let loose a volley of shots, sending the wave reeling back long enough for her to drag herself to her feet and begin running again.

Her breathing was like a furnace, her lungs a volcano. Her legs didn't feel like they belonged to her anymore; just a pair of machines beneath her waste, completely apart from her person. Her foot caught and she stumbled again, throwing two hands over her head as the demon wave smashed through the wood and blew past her body. Tears from the dust and from despair streamed down the time traveler's face as she scrambled upwards, the railing splintering beneath her fingers as she gripped it, the steps falling into a void beneath every footfall.

A flare of hope ignited in Homura's chest when she saw the door to the highest room in front of her, still left slightly ajar from when she had last visited it. She forced her tired legs to bound forward one more time, just to cover a little more ground, a little more...

Then the stress of the demons ravaging the stairwell was too much, and the staircase literally detached itself from the wall, and suddenly they were _plummeting,_ falling into empty space as the monsters shrieked around her ears-

With a throat shredding scream, Homura lunged forward, hands outstretched, and just barely caught the edge of the door with her fingertips.

Her shoulder tent taut, and her elbow screamed in pain as it was stressed beyond reason. Homura bit down hard on her lip as her legs dangled out into the void below her, the last remnants of the staircase hitting the first floor and blowing into little bits from the impact. With a grunt, she hauled herself onto what was left of the door and shoved it open, essentially falling into the next room.

But it wasn't over yet, and she knew it. Kyubey leapt off her shoulder and began running towards the balcony, tugging the doors aside with his teeth. A torrent of rain poured in from the small opening into the room, soaking the wallpaper an the bed in an instant. Homura dragged herself up and stumbled after him, one limp arm hanging onto the now empty shotgun. She didn't know why she held onto it, but her fingers seemed locked cold around the trigger, and she lacked the time to pry them free.

The time traveler lurched her way through the doors and out into the night, and was almost immediately slapped by a wall of rain. Homura brought one hand up to shield herself, falling back against the doors so that her body weight pushed them shut. But it wouldn't hold the demons back for even a second, and why was she even up here? It wasn't like she could jump from the balcony. That would be utter suicide...

There was a loud crashing from behind her, and Homura turned to see that the demons had recovered, and were now trying to bash the door to the bedroom open.

* * *

><p>Kyouko was about to fall asleep at the wheel herself when the compass changed direction.<p>

"Oh...my god! Kyouko!" Kiku shouted, almost standing up straight in the car, but the ceiling prevented it. The redhead spluttered awake and whipped her head around, eyes utterly disoriented.

"What? What is it?"

Kiku shoved the compass in her face, jabbing one finger at the metal piece. "Look!"

The little scrap of aluminum was pointing in an entirely different direction now, at a location off to their left rather than forward.

"We must have just passed her," Kyouko whispered, not even watching the road anymore.

"Exactly!" Kiku agreed, but then a look of dismay crossed her face when she looked up and realized that the road only when forward. How were they supposed to make a turn without a road? "But-"

"Hold on tight," Kyouko growled, putting the car into the highest gear.

Kiku blinked. "What-"

Yanking the wheel as far to the left as it would go, Kyouko veered the car off the road, and sent it crashing into the endless waves of tall grass.

"OH MY GOD!" The brunette screeched, clutching the back of her seat as fat blades of grass slapped against the windshield, smearing rainwater across the glass and snagging in the wipers. Kyouko swore and slammed the gas harder, knowing that if she didn't keep up there momentum, the wheels would snag and they'd be stuck here forever. The storm was now raging at full force, and literal walls of rain razed against the front of the car, falling almost vertically as the vehicle was slammed from all sides, as if a great green beast were ravaging the car.

"Kiku! Kiku, shut up, for Christ's sake!" Kyouko roared. She let go of the wheel with one hand and seized the girl by the collar, shoving her back towards the compass. "Tell me which way I should be steering this thing!"

Kiku still had that wild look in her eyes, but she composed herself enough to pick up the compass and look at it, pupils dilating as she tried to understand what she was seeing. "Keep going!" She said, and Kyouko urged the car to go faster.

It was a mess of flailing green stalks and the reflection of her headlights against the black night sky, but after a full minute of utter rainy chaos Kyouko finally saw the roof of some sort of building poking out far ahead of them. "That's it!" She yelled, somehow knowing it was their destination without having to consult the compass. The engine roared beneath them as Kyouko tried to go faster, more speed, more velocity, if only to get to that shack a little sooner-

There was a terrible grating sound as the back wheels tangled in a particularly tough clump of grass, and the entire car lurched backwards once before coming to a complete stop.

Kyouko, who wasn't prepared for the interruption, found herself thrown forward into the windshield. She seatbelt choked her and yanked her back to her seat, sending stars spinning across her vision. Kiku, who had neglected to where her seatbelt, was simply ejected out of her seat and splayed against the glass, her body shoved into the small flat space above the dashboard.

Twisting to get her bearings, Kyouko kicked the door open and undid her seatbelt, sticking her head out into the torrential downpour. Her hair became soaked almost immediately, and the frigid wind froze her ears, but she squinted through the rain to make out the absolutely ruined back tires.

Kiku came to then, groaning and rubbing at her head just in time to see Kyouko curse and jump out of the car.

"Hey!" She exclaimed, struggling to dislodge herself from the windshield. "Wait up! Where are you go-"

But the redhead was already out of the car and running into the storm, crashing through the grass in her desperation to reach the shack.

"Jesus!" Kiku complained, finally yanking herself free. Leaping out of the car and into the rain, she held one hand up to her face before trudging forward. "Does she not know what 'wait' means?"

Kyouko, meanwhile, had her mind focused on only one goal. The storm was going crazy around her, slapping her face and sides with needles of sideways rain that were actually immensely painful. As she crashed through another clump of grasses that were as tall as her, part of Kyouko's mind focused on how fucking insane all of this was, the fact that she was out here in the middle of _fucking nowhere_, running through the grasslands in a storm towards an abandoned shack. She could hear the ocean roaring off to the side, and the thunder was so close that her eardrums rattled. Her entire body was soaked clean through, and she was covered in mud from the bottom up; this was most certainly the most insane thing she had ever done, and she had done some pretty crazy things in her time.

Throwing her hands out in front of her, Kyouko broke through the last of the grasses at last, flying out into a wide open expanse of land that led to the shack. Eyes traveling upwards, they alighted upon a balcony that rested countless stories above her head, one that had a small, frail figure curled up in the middle of it.

Her heart went cold and hot at the same time, and Kyouko's ring began to glow.

"HOMURA!"

* * *

><p><em>Bam. Bam. Bam.<em>

Homura closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, knowing that the rivulets of water running down her face wasn't just rain. Her hair was ropy and wet, and hung at her sides like sheets. Kyubey was similarly diluted, his usually fluffy coat matted and hanging now, his thin form looking miserable under the mercy of the storm. Yet he did not run, he did not abandon her like she had expected.

She looked down at her hand, at the fingers locked around the shotgun, and finally found enough bearing to release the weapon. It clattered to the molded wooden floor with a wet squelch, little ringlets of water echoing out from its metal frame as the rain continued to bombard it.

Then she looked at her other hand, which was reaching around behind her to pull out the pistol, her last remaining weapon. Slowly, as if on autopilot, Homura pulled the safety back on the gun and pointed it at the balcony doors, past the empty room beyond and at the wooden doors barely holding the demons back. The sights were shaking violently in front of her, and she could barely aim straight, she was so cold. Her teeth were chattering, her heart was cold, her mind even colder. She was completely and utterly alone, up atop this rooftop balcony, with only the unforgiving rain and an alien as her company.

What it really going to end here, just like this?

_Bam. Bam. Bam._

Tears blurred her vision, and Homura finally knew that she couldn't keep blaming the rain. This was it. This was really it. She was going to die here, cold and isolated, a far from the one she loved that she could ever get. Her corpse would freeze, and never rot. Perhaps Madoka would not even be able to find her. This really was the end.

She readjusted her grip on the pistol, the sights still shaking badly.

Why was she holding this weapon, then? Better to cast it aside, and accept death with open arms. Why fight for her life, even now, when she knew there was no way to preserve it? Why was she still struggling against fate?

There was another crash behind the door, loud enough for her to hear it through the rain, and Homura saw the door splinter.

She was a fool. Akemi Homura was a complete and utter fool. To have thought, in the warm security of Kyouko's embrace, that perhaps she could have died after living a long and fulfilled life. She had been kidding herself. No matter how many times she fell in love, no matter how many demons she killed, the fate of all magical girls would never become a different postulate.

Despair awaited them all, even the best.

Especially the best.

_Goodbye, Kyouko,_ Homura thought, as a large chunk of wood blew away from the door hinges. A single empty eye socket peeked through the hole. _I'm sorry it had to end this way. But I know you always hated goodbyes._

The door collapsed at long last, and the demons flooded the empty room, and now there was nothing between her and them but a fragile glass door.

Homura closed her eyes, feeling her pistol drop to her side, as she truly began to weep.

_I'm so sorry, Kyouko. I love you. I'm sorry..._

The black tide rushed forward, a single, inaudible roar filling the young girl's ears.

She really should have told Kyouko the truth sooner.

A demon's shriek pierced her heart, sending violent shudders down her spine.

She really should have treated Mami a little better.

The storm rumbled angrily above her.

She really should have expected less of herself.

She heard the door fall to pieces, and knew that Death had come for her at last.

She prepared herself for the final blow...

"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HER, YOU BASTARDS!"

Impossible. Homura's eyes flew open and she turned around to see the impossible: Kyouko Sakura, and all her brilliant, inviolable glory, launching high into the air, spear in hand. The weapon seemed to be glowing with some kind of violent energy, the likes of which Homura had never seen before, in all her years by the redhead's side.

The spear hummed with power as the redhead drew it back, holding it behind her head like a lance.

Then, with an chest rending roar, she hurled it at the balcony.

The spear ripped through the air and was upon them in an instant, instantaneously vaporizing the rain around it as it plowed into the demon horde and absolutely obliterated it, blowing the entire wave back into the room and out the door in one crimson-blinding explosion. Homura threw herself to the ground and watched in awe as the spear blasted through the door and out into the hall beyond, the demons already vaporized, before crashing into the opposite wall and blowing out a massive hole in the other end, so that Homura could see all the way across the house.

Her gaze turned back to the sky, and saw Kyouko's now limp form falling out of it, her soaked body thumping to the balcony floor like a dead weight.

Homura scrambled up to her knees and crawled over to the girl she loved, dragging her useless, accursed body across the wet boards to reach Kyouko's side. The girl didn't seem to be responsive, even as Homura slapped her cheeks and shook her, calling out the redhead's name. Fat drops of rain struck the girl's face, but she still did not wake, her delicate lips parted slightly as if in defeat.

There was a clatter behind them, and Homura turned to see Kiku leaping onto the railing, clad in full battle gear. The look in the time traveler's eyes told Kiku how disoriented the girl was, and she resolved to help as best she could.

"Kyubey, come with me," She ordered, tossing her wet mane of hair behind her. "We're going to go finish off the rest of the demons."

With that, she marched into the building, out of the rain and into the darkness beyond. Kyubey followed wordlessly, not bothering to mention that there were no demons left to take care of, as Kyouko's ultimate spear had eradicated them all.

Homura didn't even watch them go, still desperately trying to get Kyouko to respond to her voice, her touch, her scent, anything. She shook the redhead as hard as she could, screaming her name, begging her to wake up, for the love of god, just please wake up!

"Kyouko!" She screamed one final time, raising one fist and pounding it against the redhead's chest.

Her eyes opened.

And Homura's heart stopped.

Kyouko turned her head to gaze up at Homura, her eyes unfocused and bleary, as if in a dream. The storm raged around them, but Homura didn't give half a damn, her eyes concerned only with the redheaded girl she was cradling in her arms.

"Kyouko," She sobbed, her tears dripping off her nose and joining the raindrops, staining the redhead's face. Kyouko seemed to come to her senses then, her eyes sharpening into focus.

"Kyouko...Kyouko...Kyouko..."

Then hands were grabbing her by the neck, and Kyouko was pulling her into a rough embrace, and suddenly she was the one who was crying, sobbing, wailing as she wordlessly punched Homura over and over again, gripping the girl so tightly that it hurt.

Homura sat very still for a moment, then melted beneath the rain, in Kyouko's warmth, in the care of the world. Even in this storm, she felt warm in Kyouko's arms. Feeling her body relax, she drew her arms around the sobbing redhead and hugged her tightly back, accepting the punches gladly. It was strange; she had been a step from death by a moment ago, but now all she could think about was tomorrow.

_So this is what love feels like,_ she thought, closing her eyes and fading off into oblivion.

* * *

><p><strong>I'm pretty much shoving as much as I can into every chapter at this this point. I hope you guys don't mind.<strong>

**This chapter too forever to write (probably because it's the second longest one yet) but better late than never, I guess? I feel bad for anyone who decides to read this story now. It's gotten ridiculously long at this point.**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading it! Next chapter will (very likely) be the M rated chapter that I've been promising for, like, an eternity. I've never really written smut before, though I guess I've come close, so I would ask in advance that you pardon any amateur mistakes **

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Banshee**


	31. Love Keeps Us Kind

**Word to the wise: the vast majority of this chapter is rated a big fat M for mammaries, among other things. Proceed with caution. For the faint of heart, you can find a general description at the bottom.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 31:...Love Keeps Us Kind<p>

Homura didn't know much of what happened after that; she fell unconscious with Kyouko's head cradled in her arms, as the world attempted to drown them both.

Kiku returned some time later with Kyubey, having retrieved Kyouko's spear and made sure that no more demons were in the area, only to find her two friends collapsed onto the soaked wood, their tongues hanging out from exhaustion. The illusionist simply sighed and set the spear down against the wall of the room, before running out into the rain and dragging her friends back indoors. She had planned to haul Homura in first, but the girl's arms were locked around Kyouko's head even in sleep, so she was forced to grunt and pull them both in at once.

She set them both down on the rickety old bed in the center of the room, exhaling slowly as she straightened up. Kyubey nudged the glass door closed with his nose, and suddenly the pattering of the rain was muted and distant, as if from another world.

The illusionist stared down at her two friends for a moment, trying to search out any glaring injuries on either of their bodies. There were none, and as she watched Homura subconsciously clung to Kyouko's soaked form and pressed her face into the redhead's neck, her breathing smooth and even. Kiku felt a small pang of jealousy at the sight, wondering if she would ever have the same thing with Mami.

Well, no time to think about that now.

Standing up, she turned her head to the side and looked out the smoldering hole that Kyouko had blasted through the wall. A man-sized chunk of the wall had been blown out, and the circumference of the hole was still sizzling and smoking with heat. She could see straight out the hole and out the far side of the house, at the moody gray of the storm sky. A low draft swept through the halls and she shivered; but if Kiku was cold, these two must be freezing. Leaning over, she draped the musty bedsheets over her friends and made to leave the room.

[_Where are you going?_] Kyubey asked her, leaping to the floor and following the girl's footsteps.

Kiku ground to a halt and turned to look down at the alien, a disapproving frown on her face. She had come to terms with Kyubey a long time ago, but seeing the white creature for the first time in so long still irritated her a little bit. Closing her eyes and sighing, she faced forward and placed her hand on the doorknob.

"Somebody's got to dig the car out of the grass, right?" She said, pulling the door open and stepping through. Though that really wasn't necessary, seeing as she could have just exited through the gaping hole in the wall.

Kiku stepped out into the hall and was about to take a step forward when she realized that the staircase leading down was now nonexistent. Staring down into the yawning abyss below her, the brunette put a hand to her forehead and transformed again, her form momentarily engulfed by emerald light. Hopping off the edge of the chasm, she leapt down to the first floor, landing solidly on the wood flooring.

"Look after them," She called up to Kyubey, who was peeking down at her from the top. "You can do that, right?"

The alien seemed to roll its eyes. [_Of course._]

Nodding, Kiku slipped into the darkness, wondering how the hell she was going to dig a Jeep out of a grassland when she couldn't even drive.

Turning his back on the abyss, Kyubey padded back into the room, hopping onto a smoldering bookcase and settling back on his haunches. He watched the two sleeping forms on the bed out of the corner of his eye, but he didn't try to hear what they were whispering to each other. He understood enough about human culture to know that they appreciated their privacy.

Of the two, Kyouko was the first to come to. Groaning softly to herself, she cracked one eye open, blearily trying to make out what was in front of her. Her vision sharpened and she saw Homura's sleeping face, the girl's breathing soft and faint against the moldy bedsheets.

Blinking her eyes open all the way, Kyouko shifted the rest of her body and found herself fatigued. She had expended all of her magic on that one critical blow, and she was completely drained of energy. It had seemed to do the job, however, if the smoking hole in the wall behind her was to be taken as evidence. Kiku was nowhere to be found, but she could feel Kyubey's presence behind her, and for the first time the alien's proximity comforted her.

Reaching out, she gently brushed Homura's hair out of her face. How much things had changed between them. When she had woken up one cold October morning to go scavenge for more food to steal, she would never have entertained the idea that Akemi Homura would become her significant other. The thought would not have crossed her mind at all. Now she couldn't imagine life without the shield user, her meticulous, stubborn attitude, the occasional beautiful smiles, the order she brought to Kyouko's life.

Before Homura sought her out at that abandoned construction site, she hadn't been going anywhere in life. Heck, she hadn't known how to. No family, no money, no home, really. Nothing but an inconsistent rat and the occasional mice for friends. Being the strong individual she was, Kyouko had known she would be able to tough it for as long as she had to. But for what? What was the point of living like that forever? There was nothing left for her to accomplish. Her life was an empty husk.

Then Homura came barging in, arms full with the ladders of progress.

She obviously hadn't been very fond of the time traveler at first, but Kyouko had respected her. Akemi Homura, the pillar of strength and intellect within the mahou shoujo community, a figure shrouded in mystery and prestige. No one could question her ability, not even Kyouko, for all her pride and aloofness. Homura was strong; not a single doubt about it.

But now, she wasn't so sure. Her time with the shield user had helped to human the girl, of course, but now there was a certain vulnerability that hadn't been present before. Even now, the girl curled up in front of her looked fragile, as if she would break if handled too roughly. It made Kyouko fear for the girl's safety, and the safety of their time together. Would they have to part decades later, or would the fateful day come as soon as tomorrow? She didn't know, and that unknown struck her with insecurity.

Reaching out, Kyouko pulled Homura closer and held her tight, squeezing the girl's shoulders firmly against her chest, as if holding her like that would keep her in one place. She couldn't lose Homura. Not now, after all this time. She had told herself from the very start that developing feelings for anyone was a good way to get herself hurt, but seeing as she had pretty much blown that rule out of the water, she could only pray for things to work out in their favor.

Which, in the realm of magic, didn't tend to happen very often.

_God, being in love fucking sucks,_ she grumbled to herself. Those stupid romance novels Mami was so fond of had been completely inaccurate. It wasn't all warmth and cuddles; she was actually freezing cold at the moment, and Homura felt like a brick in her hands.

As if roused by her mention, Homura opened her eyes.

Kyouko bit her lip as the two of them stared at each other, lost in the other's thoughts. There were times when the redhead felt she knew exactly what was going on through Homura's head. That was when she was happiest, because she felt a sense of familiarity there. But now, in those bottomless violet depths spread wide before her, what she saw was unfathomable. The thought struck an almost ugly fear through her heart.

Homura blinked once, momentarily breaking the spell. A strand of wet hair fell across her face, like a foreboding blade.

Then, quite literally out of nowhere, she began to bawl.

"What-" Kyouko gaped as Homura seized the front of the redhead's shirt with both hands and buried her face in the girl's chest, making a poor attempt at muffling the loud sobs she was emitting.

Kyouko stared, wide eyed, for a long moment as Homura continued to soak her shirt through even further. Then her arms came up and she was hugging the small girl back, holding her fiercely as she stroked those long midnight locks that were beautiful even when saturated with rain, murmuring sweet nothings as soon as they came to mind.

"Shh. It's okay. Don't cry..."

"I'm so sorry," Homura gasped against the girl's collar, her shoulders shaking as the stress of the past day came crashing down all at once. "I'm sorry..."

"It's okay. Don't apologize," Kyouko said firmly, taking hold of Homura's hands with one of her own and squeezing tightly. The girl's fingers were so thin and tiny that both palms fit in her single grip. She might have been freezing, but Homura felt even colder. "It wasn't your fault."

"I almost broke our promise," The time traveler shuddered, clutching at Kyouko's hand as if it were her tether to the mortal world. "I said I would never leave you alone...I almost-"

But Kyouko lifted herself up and silenced Homura with a sudden kiss, abruptly cutting off the flow of words. She held the embrace for just a moment, separating them again and drawing back as Homura stared back with wide eyes, some of the color returning to her cheeks. There had been no desire behind the kiss; just a way to say something she could never express with her own paltry vocabulary, that blame didn't matter, that it was all okay, that she really didn't give a damn as long as Homura was alive and breathing in front of her.

Reaching forward, she pulled the shield user into a loving embrace, hugging the girl's head to her chest. "Almost doesn't matter," She murmured, her voice wobbling regardless of her efforts. "Almost is nothing. What matters is what happened, and we're okay. That's what happened. Nothing else is important."

Homura stood there for a moment, her arms dangling by her sides in brief paralysis, unshed tears glistening around her eyes as she heart clenched at Kyouko's words. Then, closing her eyelids and letting the last grateful drops fall, she lifted her hands and slowly hugged the redhead back.

"Okay," She whispered back, letting go.

She had been a fool not to realize.

As much as Homura needed Kyouko, Kyouko needed her, too.

* * *

><p>Something changed between them after that. Kiku returned to them some hours later, having miraculously freed the car from the knots of grass through methods she looked much too tired to even bother explaining. She simply roused Kyouko and told her to carry Homura back to the vehicle, huffing and panting as she led them back to where it was located. Kyouko felt a little guilty for putting the brunette through so much; she had been under no obligation to tag along, after all.<p>

She would have to thank her later, somehow.

The ride home was blissfully uneventful. Kiku surprised both of them by volunteering to drive back, although even she looked less than confident in her own capabilities. The vast majority of the return journey was simply a straight line, however, though Kyouko could hear the illusionist muttering assurances to herself as she sat behind the wheel, struggling to keep the wheels pointing forward.

The redhead helped Homura into the backseat and made to take shotgun, but the shield user reached out and grabbed her by the sleeve. Kyouko looked back and saw the absolute need in the girl's eyes, and quietly climbed into the backseat with her. Homura lay her head in the spear wielder's lap and closed her eyes, and the rest of the trip was spent as such.

Kiku would glance at them through the rearview mirror and smile to herself on occasion, but never for more than three seconds, because by that time the car tended to start drifting off the road.

Kyouko fell asleep at one point, and when she woke up again they were approaching the limits of Mitakihara. Kiku lost her confidence at this point, and Kyouko decided it was time to take over. Homura frowned in her sleep and groped for her warmth as the redhead gently slipped away, which made Kyouko's heart ache with the desire to accommodate her. She hadn't felt that way in a long time.

Surprisingly enough, Mishki was waiting for them at Homura's apartment. The older girl was sitting on the front steps with a cigarette poking out of her lip, blowing small puffs of smoke into the air and watching them ascend to the afterlife. She looked down when she heard the car roll into street, hopping up and running to meet them at the curb.

"Hey!" She said, waving as she ran up to meet them. "Looks like you finally got_-Jesus,_ what the hell did you do to my car?!"

Kyouko blanched as she climbed sheepishly out of the driver's side, closing the door softly behind her with a little click. The entire vehicle was scratched and smeared with dirt. "Um, well, we sort of..."

The guide's eyes then drifted to the backseat, where Homura was sleeping soundly, but looking worse than she had ever seen, wet and shivering. She fell silent as Kyouko stared at her shoes, as the gentle rumble of the engine was the only thing to be heard. Kiku eyed the two of them and began to coax Homura out of the backseat.

"So, you found her, huh?" Mishki said, her eyes still glued to the rail thin girl in the backseat.

Kyouko continued examining her shoes. "Yeah."

The guide drooped her head and sighed loudly, crossing her arms over her chest as she reached out and plucked the keys from Kyouko's fingers.

"We can talk about the car later," She said, tapping the redhead's shoulders as she pulled open the driver's door. "For now, just get her inside and warmed up. She doesn't look too good."

Kyouko blinked, surprised that she hadn't received a harsher rebuking. "R-Right. Thanks," She said earnestly, bowing her head. Mishki smiled back and started the car, making sure that Homura was out of the back before trundling off slowly down the street, until she turned a corner and was gone.

Kiku helped her carry Homura into the apartment, the two of them setting the still unconscious girl down on the couch. Kyouko stared down at the girl's pale looking body, at a loss as to what they were supposed to do now. Then, out of the corner of her eyes, Kiku began to wring her hands nervously.

"Look," The illusionist said when she looked up, "I'm really worried about Homura, you know that, but I kind of need to get home..."

Kyouko remembered everything that had transpired before they left the city, and felt even further guilt for interfering with the girl's plans. "Oh, right. Definitely. Good luck," She added after a moment's notice, not knowing what else to say.

Kiku smiled over her shoulder as she headed for the door, looking tired. "Thanks. I'll need it."

The door clicked behind her, and now the two of them were alone.

Kyouko snapped back to her senses and decided she should be getting Homura warm, then hurried off to get the bath started. She ran back a moment later, slipping her arms beneath the girl's body and lifting up her; she was terribly light. Kyouko carried her into the bathroom, where the tub was slowly filling itself up to the brim. It was already starting to feel hot in there, but Homura's skin was still clammy to the touch.

Setting the shield user down against the side of the tub, Kyouko peeled off her soaked overcoat and tossed it aside, the article of clothing hitting the floor with a wet squelch. Homura's long socks and her ribbon quickly followed, along with the first three buttons of her shirt. It was here that Kyouko faltered, and after a moment's deliberation she began to berate herself. She was no doctor, but Homura could be dying of fucking hypothermia right now, and here she was worrying about seeing her lady parts!

But she still couldn't convince herself to do it, at least not like this. Looking around the bathroom, she ultimately walked over and picked up the ribbon she had yanked out of Homura's hair a moment earlier. Tying the cloth around her eyes like a blindfold, she approached Homura again, slowly patting the girl's body until she found what she was looking for. Biting her lip nervously, Kyouko picked apart the last of the buttons, pulling the girl against her chest for a moment so that she could slip the shirt off her person. The redhead shivered when her fingers brushed across exposed skin.

Reaching around, she fumbled with the clasp of Homura's bra. The damn things were hard enough to deal with when she could bloody see, for crying out loud. After a full minute's struggle, she heard a telling click and felt the garment fall free. She set it down gingerly somewhere to the side, fighting the incredible urge to just tear the blindfold off.

Then she heard Homura's voice leaking out, and the shield user came to a bleary consciousness. "K...Kyou...?" She slurred, sounding befuddled.

Kyouko swallowed. "H-Hey, Homura," She said, hoping to god the girl wouldn't look down at herself. "Listen, you need to warm yourself up. I need you to get into the bath. Can you do that?"

"Huh? Oh...yeah," Homura murmured, obviously barely there. Kyouko gulped as she heard the sound of a skirt being slipped out of, and the light dropping sound of something else she didn't want to think about. A moment later, she heard sloshing water as Homura all but fell into the tub, groaning something unintelligible as she sank into the water.

"J-Just do your thing," Kyouko muttered, getting up as feeling around for the door. "I'll be back in a bit, okay?" That said, she finally slapped the door handle and yanked it open, slipping through and pulling it shut behind her.

Once outside, she slid down against the door and sat down on the floor, pulling the ribbon off her eyes and staring at it blankly.

Then she sighed and clutched at her head, wondering what the hell had gotten into her.

* * *

><p>Homura took her time in the bath, and Kyouko sure to busy herself while she waited. She slipped into the kitchen and tried to set her mind on making something for the girl to eat, since she assumed Homura hadn't been able to do much for herself while she was stranded out in the middle of nowhere. But her mind kept wandering back to the bathroom, wondering whether Homura was okay in there by herself, if she would ned any help.<p>

It was weird. The time traveler was the one always looking after her and making sure she didn't mess up, but today the roles were switched. Today, she was the responsible one.

She didn't envy Homura at all.

Kyouko's mind had thoroughly wandered at this point, so that she failed to notice the food that was now burning on the stove in front of her. "Shit," She muttered, dumping the contents of the pan into the trash. She gathered the materials for her second attempt, keeping an eye on the food this time.

The redhead wondered if she had lied to Homura back there, when she had said that the details didn't matter, that what mattered was that they were both alive and together. She wondered if it mattered that Homura was still sick, that they had no answers for the strange affliction that had begun to haunt them at the turn of the year. Homura wasn't easily influenced or anything, but Kyouko didn't want to put any wrong ideas in her head.

But then she decided that no, it really didn't matter, not to her. They had been through worse together, and they would get through this. She had faith in that. When it came to her family, she had perhaps lacked faith in their ability to handle hardship, which was likely why she had kept her magic a secret for so long. But Homura, she was strong. Kyouko kept reminding herself of that. As weak as the girl looked now, she was strong.

She had to be.

Something ashy invaded Kyouko's nostrils, and she looked down to realize she had screwed up the food a second time. Swearing softly under her breath, she dumped the stuff again and began her third attempt. For better or worse, Homura always screwed her over.

Several minutes passed and she finally managed to prepare a proper amount of food without singing the damn thing, and after this was done Homura walked into the kitchen groggily with a towel around her neck. She was wearing the clothes that Kyouko had hastily gathered for her earlier, but her normally lush locks were wet and straggly. The shield user yawned loudly as she staggered into the room and leaned against the wall, slumping as if her spine had lost all its integrity.

Kyouko glanced over at her and blushed; she had failed to grab Homura a bra in her haste, and the fact was being made much too obvious in the cool air of the kitchen.

"Oh, hey. You done?" Kyouko asked, setting the plate aside and walking over. Homura nodded soporifically once before closing her eyes, and for a moment seemed to doze. But she reopened them a moment later, rubbing at the tops of her lids.

"Whut time ish et?" She mumbled, yawning vigorously again.

"Uhh..." A quick glance at the clock told Kyouko it was still six in the morning, which she found surprising. Well, she and Kiku had left Mitakihara in the middle of the night, so it made sense. Man, her sleep schedule was going to be fucked. "Still morning," She said at last, gently squeezing Homura's shoulders. She didn't think the specific time really mattered.

"Oh," Homura sighed, obviously too tired for much more. Kyouko looked at her sympathetically and looked the girl over once, checking for any open wounds. There were a few scratches, but nothing life threatening. All the muck Homura had accumulated over the past day was gone. Only her hair remained looking out of place.

"Come here," She coaxed, gently pushing the raven haired girl over to the table. She set the food in front of her and instructed Homura to eat, then picked up the towel. As Homura began to gingerly spoon little clumps of food into her mouth, Kyouko toweled her hair, making sure to dry it thoroughly. A few minutes later she ran into the bathroom to grab a comb, and began to smooth out the knots that had built up.

Homura's eyes drooped beneath Kyouko's attention and she seemed to fall asleep, the spoon still dangling out of her mouth. Smiling affectionately, the redhead tickled her under the chin, rousing the shield user for a little longer. "Eat first. Then you can sleep," She promised, and Homura nodded once before chewing slowly.

It was a little weird to think it on her own part, but Kyouko thought Homura looked ridiculously cute when she was this tired. There was something about the vulnerability of it.

Homura struggled to down the food, but she ate all of it as instructed. Satisfied, Kyouko set the brush aside and helped the girl out of her chair, then bent down and hoisted her up in both arms, bridal style. The redhead blushed when Homura naturally leaned her head against her shoulder, and felt her hands begin to sweat nervously. Which didn't make sense. They had done much worse together.

She headed up the steps, treading softly as not to wake her already snoring girlfriend. Pushing the door to their bedroom aside with her leg, Kyouko crossed the room and set Homura down on the cushy mattress, walking around to tuck the girl snugly beneath the covers. Stepping back, she observed the scene. The shield user looked small and vulnerable amongst the mass of pillows, and for a moment Kyouko considered joining her. But she simply sighed and left the room, deciding what Homura needed now as rest, not company.

Though if Homura had been awake, she would have insisted that having Kyouko present would have helped immensely.

Walking back downstairs and scavenging a blanket, Kyouko threw herself onto the couch and closed her eyes, exhausted herself from the entire day. She was going to have trouble waking up in the morning tomorrow, but screw it. Her sleep cycle was the least of her worries.

As the morning birds began chirping outside, Kyouko fell into a deep slumber.

* * *

><p>When Homura woke up, it was night.<p>

She opened her eyes feeling immediately alert; that in itself was strange to her, because she hadn't felt like that in a long time. Perhaps in her prime, when she was "younger" she might have been accustomed to that level of awareness. But for the past few months, waking up at all felt like a miracle at times.

But today she felt vigorous. She had some energy to burn, which was surprising since she had expected to be knocked out cold after the events of the past day. The thought made her sit up and look around, and she quickly realized that she was back in her room, back at home. So they had made it back safely; that was a relief.

But she was alone. Where was her partner?

Biting her lip, Homura took the risk of using magic and sent out a brief mental message, broadcasting a single word out to her immediate vicinity.

[_Kyouko?_]

A response was quick to grace her consciousness, and Homura's heart almost cried when it heard the redhead's voice in her mind.

[_Homura? Are you up?_]

[_Yeah,_] She replied, gripping the blanket in her fists tightly. For some reason, Kyouko's voice alone was making her heart race. [_Where are you?_]

[_Downstairs. Sort of fell asleep on the couch,_] Kyouko replied, punctuating her words with a yawn. [_I guess even this rickety thing is comfortable when you're tired...what's the matter? Do you need something?_]

Homura didn't know if her response was spoken or thought, but the words rose from her mouth as if unbidden.

[_I need you,_] She whispered quietly, clenching the sheets even tighter.

There was a brief silence on the other end of the communication, and Homura thought she felt all the tiredness vanish from Kyouko's consciousness. [_I'm coming,_] The redhead promised, and a moment later the time traveler heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

The door was pushed open, and Kyouko poked her head in, eyes scanning the room until they fell on Homura's sitting form on the bed. She walked over and sat on the opposite end of the mattress, leaning over and placing her hand on the younger girl's cheek and neck, checking her temperature. Homura closed her eyes and leaned into the girl's touch, sighing softly as her skin reveled at the feeling of a loved one's skin.

"Well, looks like you haven't caught a fever," Kyouko said at last, with measurable relief. "How are you feeling? Still tired?"

Homura shook her head, and the redhead smiled gently. How could fangs and such fierce beauty look so kind? She found herself so fascinated by the unlikely combination, this oxymoron of features, that for a moment she almost reached out to stroke Kyouko's cheeks herself.

Leaning forward, she let her slight frame fall against the redhead's chest, making the girl inhale sharply in surprise. She pressed her nose against her neck and drew in a deep breath, feeling her brain tingle at Kyouko's utterly unique scent. Bringing her hands up, Homura placed them on her partner's back and hugged her loosely.

"Hey, what's up?" Kyouko asked softly, drawing her hands through the girl's black hair. The shield user was only in a thin tank top and pajama shorts, but heat radiated off her body like a furnace. Maybe she really was sick?

"I just wanted to say thank you," Homura murmured, pressing her lips against Kyouko's collarbone. "If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here right now."

"Oh," The redhead said, relieved that it wasn't something more serious. "Well, you don't have to thank me. Of course I would come looking for you."

But Homura shook her head again, her nose brushing across the girl's skin. "No, not just that. For everything...everything you've done for me until now. I can't really think of the right way to put it right now, but just...thank you." She hugged Kyouko a little harder. "For making me who I am."

Her previous exhaustion must have broken down any self defensive barriers she had up, because the road from her mind to her tongue was a straight bridge now. What she said was what she meant, and Homura felt no regret about saying what left her mouth after that.

"...I love you."

She felt Kyouko go absolutely still in her arms, and for a moment a pure bolt of fear lanced through her. Damn it, she should have been more careful, more attentive, if she wasn't feeling so impulsive she never would have said-

Then Kyouko drew in a long, shuddering breath above her head, and Homura looked up to find that the girl was crying.

"Kyouko?" She said, bewildered. "Are you okay? I'm sorry, I-"

"N-No, no! It's fine," The redhead insisted, pushing Homura's hands away. "It's just...god, you idiot..." Kyouko sniffed loudly and wiped embarrassingly at her eyes, trying and utterly failing to hide the stupidly large smile that was plastered across her tear-streaked cheeks.

Homura watched her for a little longer, surprised that her confession had elicited such a strong reaction from the stoic girl. But really, she should have felt more embarrassed from saying it, herself. So why did she feel so normal? To her, saying that she loved Kyouko was almost natural, as if she had known it inside all along.

"S...Since when?" The redhead asked tentatively, peeking up at her shyly from beneath long lashes.

Homura frowned as she ran her thumbs down across Kyouko's shoulders, feeling the girl shiver in mild delight. "I don't know...since a while ago, I suppose. Love isn't something you really keep track of, is it?"

Kyouko laughed sheepishly, her breath coming in short giggling hiccups. "Yeah, I guess it isn't!" She agreed, reaching up to flick the last of the joyful tears away from her eyes. Homura smiled and made to help her, cupping the girl's cheeks to keep her still. But Kyouko grabbed her wrists as held them there, her gaze turning serious as Homura tilted her head, curious.

The redhead looked down slightly and pressed her lips against the time traveler's palm, closing her eyes as she lovingly caressed the skin there. "Well, if you're going to be like that..." Reaching forward, she pressed her forehead against Homura's, twining their fingers together and holding them up between them.

"I love you too, idiot."

A hot explosion shot across Homura's chest when she heard those words whispered to her, and she finally understood Kyouko's prior embarrassment. Hearing those words at last felt like...god, it was ridiculous for mere words to hold such meaning.

It was ridiculous for words to make her so blissfully happy.

"You're blushing," Kyouko noticed, grinning teasingly, though it was mostly just to divert attention away from her own embarrassment. Homura flushed even further and bit her lip, looking at the sheets angrily.

"I am not."

"Yeah, you are," Kyouko smirked, reaching up and pinching Homura's cheek affectionately. "I can make you blush anytime I want, Homura. Don't you know that?"

"Oh, really," Homura sighed, rolling her eyes in exasperation. But the redhead didn't lose her composure, instead leaning in and narrowing her eyes in all seriousness, though the mirth still sparkled in her eyes.

"Really."

The shield user blinked at her, forced her avert her gaze soon after. Her cheeks were coloring themselves pink already, the damn things, but Homura wasn't about to admit defeat so easily. She would make Kyouko earn her victories.

"Prove it, then," She said softly.

Kyouko blinked.

"As you wish," She murmured, before leaning in and kissing her.

Homura sighed against the redhead's embrace, having expected something like this but not knowing how far this little spat would be taken. Kyouko started slow, only brushing their lips together at first. But neither of them were at all likely to be satisfied by just that, and soon brushing turned into sucking, and then gentle licks and flicks of the tongue as Homura finally gave in and reciprocated, their breath coming in short intermittent gasps as they indulged themselves for what felt like the first time in ages.

Homura's hands had reached up to fist themselves in Kyouko's shirt, and the redhead seemed to take that as a cue to push her down onto the bed, letting them breath only long enough for her to position herself over the shield user's hips before picking up where they had left off.

Tilting her head, Kyouko's movements turned rough, her tongue peeking out to rub at Homura's unapologetically. The shield user tried to keep their touches small and fleeting, but Kyouko remedied this by biting Homura's lower lip. The smaller girl gasped, giving the redhead the opening she needed to do what she pleased, slipping her tongue into Homura's mouth and pinning it down. The slippery appendage fought back for a brief moment, but Kyouko growled and kissed her harder, grabbing Homura's wrists and holding them up above her head to curb any further resistance.

They separated when they encountered the problem of breathing, chests heaving. Kyouko almost moaned when she saw a small string of saliva connecting their lips, the glistening line snapping as she pulled away. There was a glazed over look in Homura's eyes.

"Have I made my point?" She asked breathily. Though truthfully, she had no idea what point she was supposed to be making anymore. That particular memory had gone flying right out the window.

Homura blinked, the clarity returning to her expression, and she cast a single smoldering glance up at her. "I think...I might need another lesson," She snarked, her lips curving into a knowing smile. It was a completely shameless expression, one totally devoid of the innocent blushes of just a moment ago, one painted with pure desire.

Kyouko felt something deep and primal move inside of her gut when she saw this, and in the back of her mind she knew she was screwed.

Grabbing Homura's bare leg by the knee, she yanked the girl forward so that their hips pressed together. The raven haired girl yelped at the sudden movement, her now freed hands grabbing the sheets on either side of her body. Hooking Homura's leg around her waist, Kyouko lifted one slender finger and drew it all the way down the length of the girl's body, starting from her collarbone and falling straight down, through the clothed valley of her breasts across the navel, only stopping when her nail caught on the waistband of Homura's pajama's shorts. The shield user gasped and squirmed under her touch, goosebumps erupting across her flesh. Kyouko almost laughed at how easy it was to earn a reaction from her.

But no, this wasn't the time for laughter and silliness. This was _very serious business._

Falling forward so that they were chest to chest, Kyouko put her lips right up to Homura's ears and whispered, "Get ready to learn, then."

That said, she sunk her teeth into the girl's earlobe and sucked, hard.

Had she had eyes on the back of her head, Kyouko would have seen Homura's irises dilate and her lips part as if on instinct, pink little tongue poking out as she moaned, a long keening cry and tore a searing path straight to Kyouko's core. Her hips bucked, and Kyouko couldn't help crying out as their pelvises ground together, and for the first time she felt something hot and wet gathering between her legs.

Closing her lips around the lobe, she continued sucking, as her hands occupied themselves elsewhere. One arm was still busy holding Homura's leg and hips against hers, but the other slid down the girl's side and slipped beneath the fabric of her clothing, pushing pants down and tank top up. Homura whimpered when she felt cold air touch parts of her that had been covered until now. Kyouko's finger's hooked underneath the hem of the tank top, lifting the fabric so that the girl's stomach and navel were exposed, abdominal muscles contracting as Homura struggled to keep her breathing even.

She released Homura's lobe without warning, letting the small tab of flesh slip out of her mouth with an audible _pop, _making her gasp. Lowering her head, Kyouko kissed her way down the girl's jaw and chin as her hand explored Homura's criminally flat stomach, rubbing her fingers across smooth and giving skin. The girl's muscles clenched beneath her touch.

"Kyou-ah!" The mumbled name ended in a sharp cry as the girl in question nipped Homura on the exposed column of her neck, leaving an angry red spot behind. The shield user began implementing a rolling motion with her hips, and Kyouko groaned before pressing back, grinding their crotches together as their heat continued to build.

Meanwhile, Kyouko's hand had gone as far as it dared. Her questing fingers stopped just short of Homura's chest, feeling the rising swell that told her she was about to venture into uncharted territory. The moment of indecision distracted her enough to make her stop attacking Homura's neck, which made the shield user blink and look down, her eyes cloudy with need.

"Well..." Homura swallowed hard before continuing. "Aren't you going to touch me?"

Kyouko's brain short circuited. "Huh?"

The shield user blushed hard again, reaching up to gently bite her finger nervously. "I'm saying, that if you want to, you could..."

"O-Oh. Right, I'll take you up on that, then," Kyouko stuttered, feeling her cheeks burning. God, there went the whole 'authority' gimmick. Bloody great role player, she was.

Fingers clenching nervously, Kyouko slowly lifted Homura's top up all the way, revealing her breasts to the cool night air. The shield user shivered when she was exposed completely to the redhead's hungry gaze. She almost considered covering herself up with her arms, and she nearly did, but that would have been pointless. After all, she wanted this, too.

Homura gasped when Kyouko abruptly reached forward and cupped one of her modest breasts, brushing a thumb over one hardened nipple experimentally. The shield user stifled her cries by biting down harshly on her finger, but that only made the entire scene more erotic for Kyouko, who was slowly gaining more confidence. Resuming her biting kisses, she trailed her tongue across Homura's collarbone, brushing her nose up the gentle swell of the other breast before closing her lips around its pert nipple.

Homura audibly keened when she did that, and Kyouko felt a massive rush of victory sear through her chest. Using her tongue to draw the nipple deeper, she sucked insistently, using her hand to tug hard on its partner. Homura really seemed to like that one, her back arching and her hips bucking forward as a moan finally slipped past her defenses.

Moaning despite herself, Kyouko rolled her hips into Homura's and tickled the girl's nipple with the tip of her tongue at the same time, hazily noting that her own pants were thoroughly soaked at this point. Homura groaned helplessly and threw her head back, exposing her throat. Kyouko was sorely tempted to reach up and sink her teeth into that delicate column of flesh, but she didn't. She had bigger priorities at the moment; there was something else she wanted to try.

She released the nipple she had been sucking raw with a loud pop, making the shield user curse under her breath. Kyouko's walls clenched when she heard that, because Homura only ever swore for two reasons and two reasons alone; either she was really fucking pissed, or she was really, _really _turned on.

The raven haired girl whined when Kyouko didn't resume sucking immediately, but the redhead crawled up the girl's body and silenced her with a sloppy kiss. It was aimless and pointless, built only to appease the time traveler for but a moment longer. Once she was properly quieted, Kyouko slid back down to where she had been earlier, pressing her lips to Homura's navel and grazing her teeth against the skin there.

Homura's breathing shortened as she finally realized what Kyouko was trying to do, and she peeked almost fearfully down the length of her body to where the redhead's face was hovering between her legs. Just that sight alone made her want to moan loud and long, but she contained herself, since crying out without provocation would have been more than a little embarrassing.

Reaching up with both hands, Kyouko eased Homura out of her pajama shorts, the shield user lifting her hips obligingly to help her. For some reason she failed to take the girl's panties with it, and Kyouko found herself staring at Homura's completely soaked underwear in utter fascination. The shield user's heart stuttered beneath her unwavering gaze, and the tension only served to add to the wetness staining her inner thighs.

Kyouko gulped and tried to peel the panties off next, but they were stuck for some reason, and she growled in frustration as she tried to pry them away. Homura sighed and reached down to help her, hooking her thumbs beneath the waistband and raising her slim hips again.

"You have to start from behind, you idiot..." She mumbled sheepishly, pulling off the panties back first and settling down so Kyouko could do the rest.

"Oh, yeah. Right," The redhead agreed, blushing furiously. Man, this was a lot more awkward that she had imagined her first time to be. Not that she had put much thought to the fact. Hell, who was she kidding? She'd been thinking about this for _ages_.

She grabbed the edges of Homura's panties and pulled down slowly, slipping the unwanted garment down the girl's leg until it nestled somewhere around her ankle. Then she ran her hands up the length of Homura's thighs, firmly spreading her legs wide enough for Kyouko to do what she intended to do. Homura watched her the whole time, eyes black and glistening with anticipation, and Kyouko could feel something very much akin to thrill coursing through her veins as she settled her eyes on her girlfriend's dripping wet pussy.

Okay, no need to rush this, she thought. Lowering her nose, Kyouko kissed her way up Homura's inner thigh, gently pricking the skin with her fangs and leaving a wet trail of saliva in her wake. The shield user's breath came out more harshly the further up Kyouko went, her fingers creeping down as if to tangle in the girl's crimson hair but stopping halfway.

Given how long Homura's legs were, Kyouko was able to stall for a while; but she could not deny the inevitable, and ultimately she found her lips hovering before Homura's, the girl's stomach rising and falling quickly above her.

Sticking her tongue out, Kyouko gently licked Homura's outer lips, coating the smooth, flawless skin there with her saliva. Well actually, there wasn't much coating going on since the girl's juices were already covering a significant portion of this area. Kyouko's brain tingled as it registered the taste of Homura's fluids for the first time, her tongue quickly becoming sticky with the stuff as she continued licking, tracing a wide circle around the hole.

"Ah...nnn..." Homura cried out softly as she was teased, that first contact already enough to drive her insane. Her fingers instinctively curled the bedsheets up beside her. "Kyouko-"

"Yes?" The redhead asked, letting a hot puff of air slip out and kiss Homura's folds. The time traveler swore again and bit her knuckle, her face an impressive red color, even compared to earlier.

"It's...it's good," She managed at last.

Good? Okay, that was good. Well, of course it was, Kyouko thought sheepishly. Thinking logically about this wasn't doing her any good at all. Maybe it was a better idea to run on instinct instead.

Closing her eyes and sending out a brief prayer, Kyouko slipped her tongue inside of Homura.

Homura's eyes shot wide open and her hips shot forward, immediately striving to get closer to the source of gratification. "Oh, fu...Kyouko!"

Kyouko moaned as she suddenly found herself buried nose deep into Homura's pussy, and the incredible scent of her partner's arousal was enough to do her in. A heavy haze descended upon her vision as she finally began eating the girl out in earnest, gripping Homura's thighs as she thrust her tongue in and out repeatedly, trying to taste as much of Homura in one breath as she could.

Homura's breath came out in ragged gasps as Kyouko got down to work, her core so wet that every time the redhead licked her it made an audible noise. The older girl growled and flattened her tongue against the girl's folds, sweeping it up and down like she was consuming some sort of delicious treat, which in effect she was. Homura let loose a stupefied groan that only fueled Kyouko's determination, and the redhead slipped her wet tongue out and replaced it with two fingers instead.

"Hyahh!" The shield user spasmed against Kyouko's hand, slamming her hips forward and hilting the two fingers as deep as they could possibly go. Kyouko groaned as she began to finger fuck Homura, not even having to start with one finger because the girl was so wet, her walls squeezing the redhead's digits and refusing to let go.

Homura was now moaning nonstop, a constant stream of unintelligible gasps and whines pouring forth from her gasping mouth as she struggled to keep herself from going over the edge. Every cry, every delicious keen that graced Kyouko's ears set her core on fire, and the redhead actually found herself reveling in the sounds Homura was making as she sought to drive the girl utterly insane. Running purely on animal instinct, Kyouko reached up and engaged her in a hot kiss, the shield user gasping when she tasted herself on the redhead's tongue. Kyouko half expected the girl to recoil from her own juices, but instead Homura began sucking eagerly on her tongue, cleaning the tasteful fluids off until she had gathered a sizable amount in her own mouth.

They broke apart for breath, and what Homura did next completely blew Kyouko's mind. The shield user let her tongue hang out of her mouth for a brief moment, the glistening juices from her own wet cunt coating the entire surface. Then, in one fluid movement, she closed her mouth and swallowed, sending the stuff straight down her throat and into her belly.

Kyouko's jaw disengaged from her face and slammed into the fucking mattress, and Homura took the opportunity to wipe some leftover juice from the redhead's face with her finger, sucking the remains clean with her mouth. Kyouko stared at her the whole time, watching her tongue dart out and lick up more of the stuff. She was absolutely dumbfounded.

Then Homura whimpered and ground her hips into Kyouko's hand, and the redhead remembered what they had been doing, along with her name, among other things. She descended back between Homura's legs with a plan this time, using both fingers to spread the girl's lips fully before her. Homura moaned when her dripping wet walls were exposed to the night air, but Kyouko quickly inserted her fingers back in, then leaned forward and closed her lips around the girl's throbbing clit.

Homura's eyes shot wide open, and she gasped around her index finger that she had stuck in her mouth. Kyouko then proceeded to suck mercilessly on Homura's clit, running her tongue over the sensitive nub again and again as she attempted to bring her partner as high as she could manage without actually finishing her.

Homura's toes curled as she let out a deep, throaty sound that Kyouko had yet to hear yet. God, Kyouko loved Homura's voice. The girl was saying her name over and over again, in ways that pleased her so much that she felt she would be dissatisfied with the way other people would call her. Her movements became rough and almost painful, her teeth grazing Homura's slippery folds as she ate her out, fingers and tongue working simultaneously. Homura tried to bring her hands down and fist them in Kyouko's hair, but the redhead stopped and bit her harshly on the inner thigh, making the girl whimper submissively. Kyouko sucked on the spot for a moment to relieve the pain, then returned to licking.

"God, Kyouko, that feels-!" Homura's hands didn't seem to know what to do with themselves, the fingers scrabbling at the bedsheets for a purchase that wasn't there. "I-I think I'm gonna..."

Upon hearing those words Kyouko immediately stopped what she was doing, lifting her head and wiping her gleaming mouth.

Homura keened and tried to lift her hips to where Kyouko's lips were, her core on fire and in desperate need of release. "Kyouko, _please,_ I-"

"You beg too easily," Kyouko purred, sitting up as she slipped out of her own panties, tossing the articles of clothing somewhere in the corner behind her. "Besides, don't you know sex is a two player game?"

Grabbing Homura by the leg again, Kyouko positioned her crotch over hers, able to feel the other girl's heat even without having to make contact. She had been able to contain herself up to this point, but her body was so wanting by now that she was already dangerously close to release, even without prompting. It had been ages since she had last had enough time to herself, and seeing Homura dissolve into a hot moaning mess had done nothing to help curb her desire. This way, they could both be satisfied.

She started slowly, pressing their cores together in a way that made her own considerably strong legs wobble. Kyouko had never been very good at self discipline, and she was almost as wet as Homura was, which made the entire process much easier. She groaned when they hit the perfect angle and their clits rubbed against one other, drawing out a synchronized mewl from the two of them as they both got ever closer to that tantalizing edge.

Kyouko had found a good rhythm by now, and she repeatedly ground her hips into Homura's at that same angle, stroking all the right spots with each and every movement. Now she was moaning too, making obscene noises that hadn't been heard outside the confines of a locked room until today. It was alarming how quickly she had come close to climaxing, but there was nothing to be done about it now, and she tried her best to delay it as she focused on bringing Homura to the same level first.

The girl in question absolutely destroyed this plan, however, when she stuck two fingers into her mouth before pinching them around Kyouko's left nipple.

The redhead's pussy clenched dangerously, and suddenly she was fighting to keep herself from finishing right at that instant. She stared at Homura in alarm, but the girl just pulled her down for another kiss, gasping out a half broken sentence between their clashing lips.

"Just cum with me, Kyouko. I'm so close!"

That was more than enough to convince her, and Kyouko began thrusting her hips in earnest, easily achieving that height she had climbed to just moments earlier. Homura made a small squeaking noise every time their hips rolled against each other, and the sound was driving the redhead absolutely insane, how the hell could someone sound so fucking _sexy?_ Reacting on impulse, she reached forward and hooked her thumb into the corner of Homura's mouth, pressing the finger against the time traveler's slippery tongue.

Much to her surprise, Homura closed her lips around it and started sucking on her thumb, moaning helplessly around the digit as her tongue coated the entire thing in her saliva. Kyouko's gut lurched at the sight, and suddenly she was right there, dangerously close now, just a few more strokes and then she would be there-

Whimpering once when their clits smacked together, Homura licked her finger and brought it down to pinch her own nipple.

That was it. Kyouko's walls clenched, and suddenly she was moaning against Homura's neck with her tongue hanging out, her mind going blank for a moment as she felt heat flood the area between their folds, and then Homura was spasming beneath her too, and then it was insanity, their cries interlacing and filling the room with their pleasure as they orgasmed in sync, each pressing against the other so feverishly that for a moment they felt mad.

Then it was over, like all things, and Kyouko felt herself slowly winding back down. Her head flopped onto Homura's chest and rested there, cheek pressed against the girl's shoulder. Homura still had her arms locked around Kyouko's neck, ribcage rising and falling as she tried to catch her breath. For a brief moment their tired breathing was the only sound filling the space between them.

Finally Homura pushed gently at Kyouko's shoulder, and the redhead obligingly pushed herself up, falling onto the other side of the bed onto her back. The wetness between her legs made a shlicking sound when she moved, making her shiver.

"Wow," She breathed at last. "That was _awesome._"

Homura let her head fall back and laughed, still somewhat winded by what they had just done. She almost couldn't believe it. "Yes," She said tiredly. "Awesome indeed." Their fingers naturally found each other beside them, hands twining together on the cool bedsheets. Kyouko closed her eyes and smiled, content.

The time traveler seemed to go quiet beside her, and Kyouko turned her head to see the girl's eyes drooping.

"Tired?" She asked, reaching over to caress her partner's arm. They were both still naked, but she hardly cared anymore, considering what they had been doing just a moment ago. Kyouko supposed that when you finally ended up sleeping with someone, things like modesty ceased to be an issue.

Homura hummed and let her eyes close, exhaling slowly. "Yeah..." She yawned. "I'm going back to sleep." That said, she grabbed Kyouko's wrist and wrapped the redhead's arm around her waist, so that the older girl was hugging her from behind. Kyouko moved obligingly, and now they were basically spooning, without the implied desire.

Kyouko pressed her lips to the back of Homura's neck, and the sigh that left the time traveler's throat was the last noise she made before falling asleep.

Before she fell asleep herself, Kyouko saw her Soul Gem shining brightly on her hand, like a jubilant heart.

* * *

><p>She probably could have slept while cuddling Homura in her arms forever, but she was inevitably roused when the girl shifted in front of her, groaning from the consequences of a nap that had gone on longer than necessary.<p>

"Mmmnghh," Kyouko grumbled, tightening her grip and forcing Homura to lay back down. The shield user obliged for a few minutes longer, but then she started squirming again, and she was made to let her go. The redhead sat up and rubbed at her eyes as Homura slipped out of the bed, grabbing one arm with the other and stretching luxuriously.

It was strange, but she felt loose, almost limber. Homura couldn't remember the last time she had felt so refreshed. Her core ached pleasantly in way that felt vaguely familiar, but foreign at the same time. Could they be some kind of side benefit of sex? The thought wasn't too far fetched; it made sense, biologically. She made a mental note to look this stuff up at some later date, when Kyouko wasn't home and she had the computer to herself.

"Where ya goin'?" Kyouko asked, as the shield user began padding towards the bathroom.

"To take another bath," Homura sighed, walking slowly and casually across the carpet. Then she stopped and turned to look back at Kyouko, who seemed distracted by the view she was getting from her angle.

"Care to join me?" She said at last, flashing one of those brilliant smiles before walking away again, her hips swaying hypnotically behind her. Kyouko watched her all the way, mouth going dry at the prospect of what she had just been offered, her more than ample libido already starting to tear her mind asunder.

"This girl is going to be the death of me," The redhead muttered, before hopping out of bed and following Homura into the bathroom.

The water was already running when she looked inside, a small layer of steam starting to cover one half of the room. Homura was leaning over the edge of the tub and feeling the water, waiting for it to heat up to a good temperature. She was exposing a good part of herself in the process, and Kyouko found her cheeks heating up as she stared regardless, thinking that the consequences wouldn't be too dire if she was caught looking. In fact, she thought sheepishly, she was rather looking forward to any potential "consequences."

As Homura became satisfied with the water and stood up, Kyouko walked up behind her and trapped her in a surprise hug, tugging the time traveler's body close to her own. Her bare hips pressed into Homura's behind as a result, and Kyouko resisted the urge to start grinding against it immediately, since she was smart enough to understand that that would be rushing things.

Homura's hands came up to cover Kyouko's, her chin lifting to face her partner's. "Why, hello there," She smiled playfully, staring shamelessly at the redhead's lips.

"Hey," Kyouko replied confidently, leaning down and pressing their lips together.

Homura sighed against her, making the redhead's heart throb in response. She loved that they could be like this. That they were finally able to be honest about how they felt about each other, to be open about their desires, and what they wanted and needed. It was no secret that Kyouko absolutely hated lies, and the fact that she and Homura could be so candid, so _simple_, made her want to fly through the sky and cry in relief. She had finally found it, her perfect partner.

It made everything she had been through till now worth it.

"Mmph," Homura said, mewling when Kyouko drew one hand up the girl's leg, sending shocks through her core without actually touching it. The redhead tilted her head and tried to press her advantage, but suddenly Homura was breaking away from her, turning around to face her so that she could push the spear wielder against the wall.

"Homura?" Kyouko asked, genuinely curious and more than a little miffed that they had been interrupted. The girl in question simple stared back, biting her lip as she tried to catch her breath, the air thick in the now steam filled bathroom.

"You're always taking the lead," Homura pouted, pressing her hips forward. Kyouko inhaled sharply when the time traveler slid a hand up between the valley of her breasts, using the move to pin the redhead to the wall. "I want to do things to you too, you know."

Despite the seriousness on Homura's expression, Kyouko smirked back and ran her hands down the girl's smooth sides. "Really now? Do you think you could match my skills?" She asked haughtily, brushing her thumb over a nipple in passing. Homura bit her lip and let out a small squeak, which only furthered her point.

"Maybe," Homura shot back, leaning in to graze her teeth over the other girl's jaw. "Maybe not," She whispered into her ear, making Kyouko shiver despite herself. "How about you let me try?"

Kyouko swallowed hard, her mind going at a million miles an hour. Though she was well aware of Homura's relative lack of sexual experience (not that she was that much more versed, but she had a better idea of what she wanted), she also knew that the girl was an incredibly fast learner. Already her movements were confident, more precise, than they had been last night. Given her intuition, Kyouko felt that if Homura really put her mind to it, she was more than capable of reducing the redhead to a spasming mess.

The thought was both terrifying and terribly exciting.

Before she could formulate a proper response, Homura closed her eyes and resumed their kiss, starting deep and keeping it there. The redhead's words were lost in the movement of their tongues as they pressed feverishly against each other, her hands falling to clutch perilously at the time traveler's hips. Homura reached up and tangled her fingers in Kyouko's hair, using her grip to tilt the girl's chin up and kiss her harder, her lips and breathing burning with intent as she assaulted all of the girl's senses at once.

They separated for a moment, Kyouko's tongue trapped between Homura's lips. The redhead keened, the sound coming out awkward and garbled due to the position of her mouth. Homura let go of her tongue with an audible pop, and Kyouko desperately tried to get a few words in in her defense.

"Homura," She groaned. "Wait, I need-"

"Shut up," Homura growled, locking their lips together again. One hand tugged sharply at crimson hair to prove her point, and Kyouko found herself actually whimpering into the shield user's throat, falling back against the wall as she was taken completely and without compromise.

Another hand came up to squeeze greedily at the redhead's breast, kneading the mound of flesh in a way that made her knees nearly buckle. Homura was gentle but torturous, using small fleeting touches and barely present brushes Kyouko's peaks. The movements were so soft and reverent that when she finally grabbed one nipple and tugged on it, Kyouko moaned audibly against Homura's lips, the pit of her stomach throbbing needily as she felt her core moistening again.

As if sensing this, Homura slipped her knee between Kyouko's legs, pressing it up against the girl's folds. The redhead immediately began dragging her hips across those amazing thighs, spreading her arousal all over the skin. It was then that Homura finally realized the extent of how far she had pushed her partner, and her hand left Kyouko's breast to brush against her pussy instead.

Her eyes went wide in surprise once she did. Kyouko was absolutely drenched. The redhead shuddered at her touch alone, dimmed irises looking up at her in a mix of pleading and desire.

"You're so wet," Homura whispered, using two fingers to spread Kyouko fully. The redhead swore as the time traveler turned to murmur into her ear. "Do you want me that badly?"

She let her index finger just barely graze the tip of Kyouko's clit when she proposed the question, and the girl trembled as her walls clenched in anticipation, her breath coming in rough pants. "_Yes._ God, Homura, just stop teasing me. I want it."

Homura smirked victoriously and lifted Kyouko's chin with her fingers. "Does this mean I win?" She asked innocently.

Kyouko nodded vigorously, and Homura almost laughed in delight. She was going to remember this win for a long, long time.

Letting go of the girl's hair, Homura descended downwards, going down on her knees in front of the redhead. Kyouko watched her squat, the excitement painfully obvious in her eyes, her breasts quivering with the rise and fall of her chest. Putting her hands on the girl's thighs, Homura prepared to do what she had promised.

Her first sweep of the tongue through Kyouko's folds sent the girl cursing again, hands scrabbling at the wall as Homura closed her eyes and focused all her attention on getting the redhead off with her mouth. Putting her hands on the floor for balance and tilting her chin up, she kissed Kyouko heat, slipping her lively tongue inside and dragging it up and out repeatedly.

"Oh, shit," Kyouko said meekly, biting hard on her lip. She had imagined what it would be like to be eaten out, of course, but this...that was far beyond her wildest expectations. Every swipe of Homura's tongue made her entire spine flash with pleasure, and her brain was going to fuzzy that she was convinced that sex should be classified as some sort of potent narcotic. Whenever a moan escaped her lips, Homura would groan back in response, the vibrations traveling past her lips and running through Kyouko's sex, making her toes curl and her heart clench.

Her control was so skewed at this point that she started losing control of her magic, the ring on her finger flickering in delight in sync with Homura's movements. She couldn't tell if she was whispering her words or if she was transmuting them telepathically. Eventually she settled for groaning and cursing with her mouth and attempting to speak with her mind, telling Homura just how she wanted it, what spots made her squirm, how close she was already to that perilous drop.

The redhead's hands naturally drifted downwards to fist in Homura's stupidly gorgeous locks, and unlike her partner the time traveler did not reprimand her for it, instead whining in pleasure when the pressure send pleasant tingled rushing down her spine. She reciprocated by kissing Kyouko's clit, swirling her tongue around the sensitive numb and breathing hot puffs of air directly onto it, which made the redhead's cries and her mental conversions spike in volume and intensity.

Kyouko was pretty sure she was drooling at this point, and the problem only worsened when she looked down and took in the sight of Homura's head moving between her legs. The scene in itself was erotic to her, but there was one more thing she wanted to see, a way to make the sight even more thrilling for the eyes.

Twisting her fingers in Homura's hair, her hips twitching once before she managed to get the words out, Kyouko thought roughly,

[_Look at me._]

Obediently, Homura tilted her head upwards, and their eyes met. Her big purple eyes opened wide as they stared innocently up at the redhead, the rest of her face covered in Kyouko's ridiculously wet pussy, the girl's hair looking less than perfect for once. There was something insane about seeing Homura squatting between her legs and eating her out with such vigor, and just the thought of it made Kyouko yearn to achieve release all over the girl's face. She started grinding her hips against Homura's nose in an attempt to do just that, throwing aside any worries about being too rough as she tried to get as close to the source of pleasure as possible. Homura understood immediately and complied, wrapping one arm around her waist and shoving her tongue in as deep as it would go. Kyouko cried out and threw her head back as she began to ride Homura's face as fast as she could, the time traveler gasping against her folds as she pursued release.

Then Kyouko looked back down, her eyes traveling beyond Homura's eyes, and what she saw there made her heart stop.

Even when she wasn't moving, Homura keened. Even as she stood still, Homura gasped against her cunt as if she really were enjoying herself. But the truth was in the girl's other arm, which had descended down between her own legs to rub at the dripping folds there, bringing herself higher as she drove Kyouko out of her mind.

She was-oh god, Homura was masturbating right in front of her, even as she fucked her mouth.

The realization was enough to send Kyouko crashing over the edge, and suddenly she was almost yelling as she came, heat flooding her pussy and flowing out all over Homura's lips. Homura never stopped sucking on her, riding out the orgasm with her all the way through, keeping eye contact the entire time. Then the shield user's fingers did their work, and then she was finishing too, crying out loudly right up against Kyouko's clit as her legs gave way, juices falling onto the tiled floor below where she had been sitting. She kept pumping her fingers in and out the entire time, making incredibly pleasured noises as she seemed to lose herself, and Kyouko could only watch dumbfounded as Homura made herself cum right in front of her.

The redhead's knees finally collapsed, and she slid down the wall and sat down in front of her partner, struggling to breathe in the moisture thick air. The bath was totally overflowing by this point, but they hardly cared, as they were too busy trying to remember what day of the week it was. Homura fell against Kyouko's chest, and the two of them held each other, both trying to calm their thundering hearts as the room continued to fill with steam.

Homura was the first to break the silence, cheeks turning pink as she realized how much control she had lost just a moment ago.

"I-I've don't I've ever touched myself like that before," She muttered in embarrassment, face flushing badly.

Kyouko grinned, laughing despite herself. Her legs and core ached pleasantly. "You should make a habit of it. I enjoyed watching you."

Homura blushed further and swatted Kyouko's shoulder. "So you would rather I please myself rather than sharing with you?"

The redhead hummed and buried her nose into the girl's hair, making her giggle. "Well, I guess that would get old pretty quick," She murmured. Homura rolled her eyes and pushed Kyouko away, leaning back and standing up on wobbly legs.

"We should probably take that bath now," She suggested, and Kyouko looked over to see that the bathroom was literally flooding around them. They hadn't even noticed, they were so focused on each other.

"Good idea," She said, attempting to stand up and hoping her legs would hold her.

* * *

><p>They laid together in the bath for a long while, but not before opening the door and letting some of the steam out. Homura sat in front of Kyouko and leaned into her, and they cuddled like that in silence, letting their tired muscles soak into the hot water. Kyouko started humming a calming tune. Homura closed her eyes and let the song lull her, a smile playing across her lips.<p>

Lifting her hand out of the water, Homura looked her Soul Gem over. She had noticed the amethyst shining with light multiple times that night, and she was just now beginning to wonder at the cause. Something told her she could link it to the amazing relief she was feeling; it was like her disease was but a bad dream, and closing nightmare of the past. She felt...alive.

As she had embraced Kyouko, they had shared more than pleasure together. Homura had felt their souls moving too, melding together in perfect harmony. She didn't know what it meant, but she knew it was a good thing. As long as she had Kyouko with her, things would be just fine.

"Do you believe in destiny?" Homura murmured out of nowhere, letting her hand fall back into the water. Kyouko opened her eyes, roused from a light slumber, and put some thought to her answer. She drew one hand across the shield user's bare shoulder, rubbing her thumb into the flawless skin, the smaller girl leaning into her touch.

"There was a time when I did," She said at last, scooping up more water and letting it run in rivulets down Homura's back. The time traveler sighed in content. "When I was young, and still religious. I believed everything happened to a reason. Then, well, you know what happened. I lost faith in the world. When you only rely on yourself, it's hard to believe in destiny."

Homura digested that answer for a while, and Kyouko continued washing her, drawing long fingers down a smooth back, across delicate shoulders. To her, it was like she was holding a treasure in her hands.

"How about now?" Homura asked softly, turning her head slightly towards her partner.

Kyouko's movements paused, then resumed again. She didn't respond for a long time, instead focusing on Homura's skin, and the sound of dripping water was the sole catalyst for sound.

"I don't want to think that me meeting you was an accident," The redhead murmured at last. "That was came together, and all this happened around us, it can't just be a coincidence. I always thought that 'love' was something stupid that I should avoid, but now I'm in love with you. It...well, I guess you could say you've restored my faith in destiny."

Homura's heart fluttered at that. The redhead could be eloquent if she tried.

"What do you think our destiny, is then?"

Smiling at last, Kyouko wrapped her arms around Homura's stomach and tilted the girl's face towards hers. Leaning down, she kissed her lover tenderly, fusing a thousand declarations of love into one tiny embrace.

"Whatever we want it to be," She murmured when they parted, and Homura smiled.

For such an ambiguous answer, she was strangely content with it.

* * *

><p><strong>Ahh…so yeah, this kind of took a while.<strong>

**I spent about a week not thinking about this chapter then another week figuring out how the hell this was going to work, then some more time realizing that I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing when it comes to smut. Well, I tried my best, and I hope you guys enjoyed it! It definitely doesn't compare to angel0wonder's Candid Cravings, but I hope I've added to the KyouHomu goodness in this fandom, somehow. Tell me what you guys thought!**

**We are now entering this final arc of this story. **

**And as always, thanks for reading!**

**~Banshee**

Summary: After being saved by Kyouko, she and Homura have a little heart to heart during which they both realize how much they need each other. After a quiet drive home, Mishki loses her shit over the car but holds off for Homura sake, and Kiku goes off to deal with Mami. Kyouko throws Homura into the bath and nurses for back to health. Some time later, Homura wakes up and calls Kyouko over, and the two proceed to do [insert obscene words here] together. Afterwards they observe a strange phenomenon regarding their Soul Gems, and they wonder about their destiny.


	32. Blindsided

Chapter 32: Blindsided

It was a testament to corruption for her to be afraid to enter her own home, but those were the thoughts dominating Kiku's mind when her hand touched the door.

Her fingers retracted, as if stung, and she let her arm fall back to her side, staring almost forlornly at the worn wood. To be honest, she wasn't really afraid of going inside of the apartment; she was terrified of what laid in wait therein, not even Mami but the words she would say, and what Kiku would say back. Not knowing what would come of their imminent discourse, understanding that she stood on the brink of salvation and the edge of despair made her stomach constrict and her breathing shorten.

But why balk now? She had wanted this for months, years even, an opportunity to upend the natural order that had settled down around her, a chance to let her heart flow and stain the supports that held her life up. The walls around her had failed to match the colors in her soul for so long now, and she finally had a way to paint them how she wished, whether she preferred her walls pure white or a blinding iridescent.

The lights were off inside when Kiku crept down the hall, but it wasn't dark since it was still early in the morning. She knew internally how exhausted she was; she hadn't slept in a day, but rest was a secondary priority now. She padded timidly across the smooth floor, peeking her head into the kitchen and finding it empty. She let go of the wall and stepped fully into the main room, realizing that Mami was not present there, and for a moment Kiku felt her heart begin to hammer.

Then her eyes caught the bedroom door, slightly ajar, and her chest tightened even further.

Her fingers were soft when she pushed the door aside, but the hinges were rusty and they let out a loud squeak when adjusted. The blonde sitting slouched on top of her bed turned around, startled by the sudden noise, and suddenly Kiku found herself assaulted by a pair of golden irises, and she knew her heart was not ready.

"Hey," Kiku said softly, letting go of the door. She had forgotten to take her shoes off in her mental preoccupation, and her clothes were caked in mud, but she hardly cared.

"Kiku," Mami breathed, seemingly captivated by her, and the illusionist blandly thought that for all the effort she put into looking pretty, the blonde only gazed at her with fascination now, when she was at her worst.

"I'm sorry I took so long," She said, stepping further into the room. Her knees wobbled when she did, and Mami stood up and approached her, fingers curling tentatively around themselves. "Thanks for waiting..."

"Kiku..." Mami whispered again, one hand reaching out to perhaps caress a cheek, or brush aside a strand of hair. But the brunette brushed it aside and fell against the blonde instead, knees finally giving way as exhaustion overtook her frame, her entire weight falling towards Mami's chest.

The older girl flailed for a moment, unbalanced by the leaning, and fell to her knees. Kiku fell with her, head falling onto Mami's shoulder as the blonde instinctively hugged her to keep them both balanced.

"Are you okay?" The blonde asked, briefly concerned. Mishki had called ahead and told her that Kiku was unhurt, but...suddenly, the fear that something had happened to the brunette struck her, and she found herself checking the girl over for injuries, running her hands over skin slick with drying rain.

But Kiku gently grabbed her wrists and held them up between their chests, her tired eyes lifting slowly to meet Mami's. "I'm fine, alright?" She reiterated. She sounded ragged, but Mami found herself believing the girl. Well, of course she should. The brunette had been through worse. She had put Kiku through worse.

The realization made her throat constrict.

God, her eyes looked so dead.

Kiku's eyes widened slightly as Mami pulled her in for a full embrace, the blonde's shoulders shaking as the beginnings of tears began to shake her frame.

"I'm sorry," She heaved out once before descending into actual tears, crying loudly into Kiku's shirt as she held her best friend as tightly as she could, afraid that if she let go something might happen to her again, that she would make another mistake, that she would come close to losing everything. She was a fool, had always been a fool; no matter what she did, she was always the one making mistakes, mistreating those who cared for her, and deepening the wounds between old enemies. What was wrong with her? How could she pursue an ideal when she was far from perfect herself? If only she wasn't who she was, if only she had noticed sooner, if only-

Rough hands grabbed Mami by her shoulders, and the blonde found herself being pushed away from the brunette's chest. Kiku was staring hard at her, holding them an arm's length apart, her eyes alighted by some strange internal flame that Mami had never seen before; she could tell if it was anguish or love.

"K-Kiku-" Mami whispered, her voice wobbling once mid-sentence.

The illusionist's lip trembled, as if responding to its owner's name.

Then her face constricted, and she struck Mami across the face.

The resounding smack of skin abusing skin rang off the walls of the apartment as Mami's head was thrown to the side, her neck twisting to compensate for the unexpected blow. A sort of strangled gasp escaped from her lips, a cross between shock and pain that hadn't been prepared for.

She looked back at Kiku, eyes wide, hair messy and undone and coming down across her face as the blonde's cheek began to smart. But the pain from the slap soon dissipated when she saw that Kiku had begun to cry too, corpulent, glistening tears pouring forth from her beautiful hazel colored eyes like dew from an evergreen's boughs. Yet the streams of sadness were offset by the angry curve of her lip, one that quickly broke into a smile as Kiku reached up to wipe at her face with a dirty sleeve.

"That's for everything you've put me through until now," She said, eyes shining. "Now we're even."

Mami simply stared, still reeling from the strike. Then she smiled graciously, and opened her arms as the brunette dove into them, both girls shedding quiet, discreet tears as they held each other for what felt like the first time. Kiku had seen Mami without her defenses before, but they had always been at ugly times, hideous times; she had seen the worst of the girl, seen the scarred terrain that was her mind and the jealous soul that inhabited her heart.

But now as they hugged and ran loving hands over each other, Mami's defenses were down yet again, and Kiku could only think that it was beautiful.

"I'm sorry, Kiku," Mami whispered again, stroking the girl's tangled curls. "I'm sorry I was so blind to you. I pushed you too far. I should have recognized your feelings earlier..."

"Hell yeah you should've," Kiku muttered, curling her fingers up against Mami's collarbone. The blonde chuckled guiltily and hugged her tighter, pressing her lips against the brunette's hair and making the girl inhale.

"I'll never do it again," Mami promised. "I'll never be so inconsiderate, so long as I live. If you ever have something to tell me, I will listen."

Kiku paused, her temple resting against Mami's shoulder. "Even if it means giving up what's important to you?" She asked, staring forlornly at nothing.

The blonde smiled and brushed Kiku's hair out of her face, lifting the girl's chin with her finger and allowing their eyes to meet.

"_You're_ what's important to me," She said softly, trying to put as much meaning into those words as she could. "I had forgotten that for a while, and I was lost in what my priorities were...but I realize my folly now. I never should have disregarded how important you are to me. I hope..." She swallowed. "I hope you will forgive me."

Kiku blushed; her eyes kept darting downwards, towards a region below the blonde's nose, and she knew in her heart that she had walked in wanting to forgive Mami. Retaining grudges, letting relationships decay; it wasn't her style.

She grabbed Mami by the shoulders out of nowhere, and the blonde flinched, thinking she was about to take another hit. If Kiku had more frustration to vent, she was more than happy to take it on. But the brunette simply sighed and hugged her again, pressing her cold body to the blonde's warm one.

"Of course I forgive you, you big fool," She muttered.

Mami smiled and closed her eyes, content to stay still for a while longer. But something occurred to her soon after, and she bit her lip before looking back down at her friend, debating on whether or not to broach this particular subject now.

No, it had to be now. They had done enough skirting.

"Th-That reminds me," She began tentatively, as Kiku shifted her head to hear her better. "I think we both have Homura to thank for this. She's the one who convinced Kyouko to chase after you, and afterwards she dragged me all the way uptown and introduced me to an acquaintance of yours."

Kiku cocked her head, frowning in confusion. "Acquaintance?"

"Junko Kaname," Mami said simply. "To make a long story short...Homura filled me in on the details while you were gone. She had me speak to Junko in order to clear everything up. I finalized most of the things we needed to get that building she had for sale. I...I hope you don't mind."

"Oh," Kiku murmured. Then her eyes widened. "Ohhh...wait, _seriously?_" She gaped, sitting up completely to stare at her friend with a slack jaw.

Mami giggled at the girl's expression; it looked almost comical. "Yes, seriously," She chucked behind her hand. "Let's start that restaurant, Kiku. You and me. We'll do it together."

"Well, I...uhhh-" The brunette flailed for a moment, still snatching at words. "I-I was kind of thinking more of a cafe sort of thing," She said sheepishly, blushing at how trivial her response was.

Mami laughed and held up the girl's hands with her own, twining their fingers together. "Sure. Whatever you want. To be truthful, I don't know how well it's going to work out. But if you really want it, Kiku...I'm ready to give it a shot."

The blonde gagged when Kiku tackled her with a massive bear hug, feeling herself getting lifted off the floor as her friend laughed and twirled them around in a big circle. "You are the best _ever_," She declared with finality, stopping once she had to catch her breath.

Mami found her chest heaving once they came to a halt, her heart fluttering at the unexpected spinning. "Wait," She said breathlessly, reaching up to grab her friend by the elbows when she looked ready to start spinning again. "There's on more thing."

Kiku stopped to listen, her eyes sparkling with a youthful energy that hadn't been there for a long time. Mami found herself entranced by them, and in the back of her mind she thought that it had been that innocent light that attracted her to the girl in the first place.

Inhaling deeply, she found herself blushing despite herself. She would have to approach this delicately.

"After I was done speaking with Junko," Mami began slowly, "Homura filled me in on one last thing I had been missing. She told me the biggest thing that I had stumbled over in my ignorance, and she advised me to speak about it with you. I have chosen to heed her words."

Kiku blinked, smiling in question. "What did she tell you?"

Mami swallowed, and suddenly the brunette's arms around her shoulders felt hot and alive against her skin. "She..." Pausing once to lick her lips nervously, the blonde forced herself to finish the sentence. "She told me how you feel about me."

Kiku's expression went from exhilarated to confused, and then to something Mami couldn't describe. She hung her head and stared at the ground between them, brown locks cascading downwards to hide her face.

"And what did you say to that?" She asked, so softly that it almost evaded the ears.

The older girl bit her lip, gripping her friend's shoulders.

"I told her I didn't know what to do," She replied honestly, trying for once to truly understand how her partner was feeling. "And during the ride home...I thought that I didn't know how I should be feeling. I don't know how I feel about falling in love. I don't...I don't even know if I'm lesbian." Mami finished the last sentence with some hesitation, and it left her feeling weird in its wake.

Kiku smiled at her friend's awkwardness, but it was tinged with something darker. "So I guess it's a no, then?" She asked quietly, lifting her head to stare directly into Mami's eyes.

The blonde blinked, taken aback by the raw emotion that she found there. "No," She replied. "No," She repeated, as if to convince herself as well. "I don't want to make that decision when I know so little. Giving up on things, convincing myself that certain possibilities were always impossible; I'm done with that. I don't want to be a selfish person anymore. My mother once told me that love requires understanding, and understanding it something I've always failed to do."

Mami paused to take in a deep breath, her chest hammering for some incomprehensible reason.

"So, as someone who has never understood...I wanted to ask you: what should I do?"

Kiku stared at her, bored her eyes into her for a very long time. So long, in fact, that Mami was afraid for a moment that this had all been a dream, and she was just now waking up. But then the younger girl pursed her lips and spoke, and the way her words drifted worth told Mami that she had put a lot of thought into them.

"I can't tell your heart how it should beat, Mami. As much as I wish I could, I can't tell you whether or not you should love me back. In fact, I don't want to. Your friendship is something that I cherished and worked for, and your loyalty is something I've fought and killed for. So your love, too, is something that I want to earn."

She reached out and squeezed the blonde's shoulder, giving her what she hoped looked like a confident smile. "So when it comes to your question, my answer is that I don't know myself. All the little stuff, whether it makes sense or not, whether it'll work out in the end - forget about all that. The only question you need to answer is whether or not being with me will make you happy. For me, I've decided that it will, and that's why I can say with confidence that I love you very dearly."

Mami flushed badly when she heard that, and Kiku knew that she was blushing too, but hell, she'd been waiting ages for a good chance to say all of this. If not now, then when? To hell with delicacy, beating around to bush, trying to approach this from an appropriate angle. Fuck that. She was in love with a girl named Mami Tomoe, and the entire world could know it for all she cared. She was done with hanging around the backstage and waiting for someone to hand her a role. It wasn't who she really was.

Raising her other hand, Kiku cupped Mami's cheek in it and smiled at the blonde, taking in the way the light bathed her golden curls; she truly was beautiful, a triumph of human design. Her beauty was more than enough to constitute Kiku's feelings, she knew, but it was more than that. She admired the girl's will, her composition. If she could stand beside someone like that, she would be more than satisfied.

"The only thing that I would ask of you," Kiku said at last, "Is that you keep my feelings in mind from now on. But the rest you must decide for yourself. The heart has reins, though ordinary people call them veins, and only you control them."

Mami closed her eyes and cupped her hand over Kiku's momentarily distracting the brunette's attention. Yet another thing she had missed; her friend was really the more mature and intelligent one. She had never known.

"Okay," She whispered, and that was that.

"Good," Kiku smiled, dropping her arms, though she rubbed at the spot where Mami had touched her. "So, uh, that said...are you, uh, busy this Saturday?"

Mami snorted. "You waste no time, do you?"

"It isn't my style," The illusionist professed, lifting her hands in a 'what are you gonna do' manner.

The blonde rolled her eyes, but it was followed by an affectionate smile. "Well, I don't know," She said, walking up and getting inside Kiku's personal space. "You know my entire schedule, don't you?" Looking up, she batted her eyelashes innocently at the brunette.

Kiku blushed very badly in response, and she seemed to choke on her own tongue. "Bleh-th-that's why I chose Saturday," She stuttered, looking frantically at anything other than the gorgeous blonde girl who was giggling in front of her.

"I suppose I have no choice but to go," She sighed. Kiku grumbled something rude and put some space between them, mostly to regain the capacity to breathe properly.

"I'm inviting Homura too," The brunette said. "You two are going to meet up, and we are both going to thank her. _Profusely_. And after that, I intend to have the two of you get along."

Mami blanched at the idea, clenching her hands behind her back. "I don't know, Kiku," She said as diplomatically as possible. "Akemi and I don't really mesh-"

"Do it for me," Kiku interrupted her. It was weird; being able to override the blonde's opinion was a newfound power. "I hate having to hang out with my two best friends separately. I've made amends with Kyouko; now it's your turn to get chummy with Homura."

The blonde sighed and rubbed at her face. "I suppose I am in no position to argue," She muttered.

Kiku smirked and walked up to her, playing her hands lightly across the blonde's shoulders. For some reason, now that she knew had things stood between them, that simple skin contact made Mami's heart clench. "I never said I was gonna go easy on you."

"Hmm," Mami hummed, meeting the girl's eyes straight on. They stared into each other's souls for a moment, until they were forced to look away from each other, cheeks red. "Well, I do like a challenge," She murmured, looking demurely up at Kiku.

The brunette gazed back for a moment, then abruptly walked towards the bathroom door, the tips of her ears turning a distinct red. "J-Just so you know, I'm going to be pursuing you honestly now!" She called over her shoulder, throwing the bathroom door open and slipping past it.

"I look forward to it," Mami teased back, and the brunette paused a second before closing the door behind her, peeking out her from behind the frame with a cowed expression on the face.

"Just so you know, I've never once not gotten someone I wanted," Kiku muttered once before shutting the door.

Mami turn away, an oddly goofy smile on her face. She crossed the room and opened the blinds all the way, shielding her eyes when the morning sun streamed in from above, blinding her.

_"__I look forward to it?"_ _Really?_ She thought, shaking her head at herself.

Well, she hadn't been lying.

* * *

><p>When Homura opened her eyes, the first sensation in her mind was bliss.<p>

Kyouko was holding her from behind again, the redhead's arms looping around the time traveler's stomach so that they molded together, spine to front. They almost ended up like this, no matter how they started out, and Homura found a certain comfort in knowing how she was going to wake up every morning.

Still, there were some pressing concerns; they had school today, and Homura was pretty sure they were already awfully late. She hadn't bothered to set an alarm the previous night, seeing as she had been...rather distracted by a certain redhead's attentions.

She quietly squirmed out of her lover's arms, wriggling to the edge of the bed. Yawning as she sat up, Homura was about to leave the bed when she felt two strong hands grabbing her and pulling her back down to the mattress, and she knew in her heart that this was what she had wanted instead.

"Jeez...Kyouko, we're going to be late-" Homura sighed.

"Save it for Saotome-sensei," Kyouko growled. Her voice caressed the shield user's ear, and that was all the convincing she needed.

Homura was still too inexperienced to know it, but later she would decide that morning sex was her favorite expression of intimacy. There was just something completely candid about it, no prior preparations or ulterior motives behind the act; they were both in their worst possible condition, actually, seeing as they had both just woken up, yet they still wanted each other. It felt like a pure expression of love to her, and as cheesy as that sounded, it never stopped her from giving in easily to Kyouko's persuasions. Besides, the redhead was dangerously good at picking her apart.

As they lay panting against each other some time later, the throes of pleasure slowly fading from their consciousness, Homura happened to glance at her Soul Gem. The amethyst was glowing softly again, and as she watched the light seemed to fade, but her questions did not.

Later, as she groggily rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as the smell of Kyouko's cooking filled the morning air, Homura continued examining her ring. Though she had limited data to base any hypothesis on, it could be assumed that the glowing happened when they were...well, enjoying themselves. The thought made her blush and laugh to herself at the same time, ridiculous as it sounded. But that was what it was, wasn't it?

"What's so funny?" Kyouko asked bemusedly when she returned with two plates in her hands, still dressed in her favorite apron, the greenish one with little pictures of houses sown into it.

"Oh, nothing really," Homura laughed, as the redhead took her seat and began to eat. "It's just that my Soul Gem always acts up when we...you know." She gesticulated vaguely with her hand, not yet comfortable with throwing words like "sex" around willy nilly.

"I've noticed that too," Kyouko admitted around a mouthful of eggs. "I wonder what it means?" She wondered, before lowering her head to dig deeper into her meal.

Homura continued staring at her hand, taking small quiet bites of the food herself. What, indeed? She didn't think it was anything bad, really; if anything, it was probably harmless. But she was a naturally curious person, and her mind went to work attempting to dismantle this particular phenomenon. There was a certain sensation that always came in the heat of the moment, beyond the basic experience of pleasure and love, under that was a feeling she was familiar with. What was it, exactly?

"Grief sharing," She murmured softly, and Kyouko glanced up from her meal.

"What's that?" She asked.

But Homura held up her hand and silenced her partner, reaching up to pinch at the bridge of her nose. "Be quiet for a bit. I need to think." Kyouko rolled her eyes and went back to eating, more than willing to give her girlfriend the mental space she wanted.

Homura continued thinking for the rest of breakfast, and remained silent as they changed into their school uniforms and gathered at the door to slip into their shoes. It was only then that she finally spoke, pausing before opening the door and turning to address Kyouko instead.

"I have a hypothesis," She said, holding up her ring to demonstrate the subject matter.

"Oh, am I allowed to talk now?" Kyouko asked sarcastically, feigning a pouty expression. Homura smirked and twined their fingers together, appeasing her.

"Yes," She said warmly. "Now listen. I've realized that the reason behind the glowing might be something similar, if not identical, to grief sharing."

Kyouko rolled that around in her head for a bit, absentmindedly playing with Homura's fingers as she did. "So...you're saying that when you climax, our souls just...meld together, or something?"

Homura found herself flushing gently at her lover's phrasing, but it admittedly wasn't too far from the truth. "Something like that," She agreed, spreading Kyouko's fingers with her own. For some silly reason, they kept playing with each other's hands as they spoke. "You might remember that it happened at an earlier date, some time after I collapsed in the kitchen." They both winced at the memory. "Afterwards, I found myself feeling much better for a short period of time."

"Hmm..." Kyouko bit her lip in deep thought, Homura's purple irises darting to look at them before slipping away, then gradually drifting back. "So is it the same right now? Do you feel...better?"

As if to test the girl's theory, Homura raised her arms and stretched luxuriously. "Well, I _do_ feel rather limber today. I feel great, actually," She amended. "Somehow, the glowing is related to improving my condition, and it seems that is set off by emotional harmony of some sort."

Kyouko seemed to process that for a long while, and when she finally spoke it was to say, "So basically, we have an actual incentive to screw each other silly?"

Homura reddened and swatted the redhead's arm. "_Must_ you put it that way?"

Kyouko laughed, falling forward so that suddenly she was gently holding Homura against the wall. "I like to keep things simple," She said huskily.

"Mmm..." Homura instinctively brought her hands up to cup her partner's face, without a second thought. Her heart started to pound when the redhead's began staring noticeably at her lips. "I do like that about you."

"I know," Kyouko said confidently, before moving in for a light kiss.

Well, it was supposed to be light, but knowing the two of them it quickly became heavy. Homura groaned when the redhead pinned her against the door with actual force this time, tilting her head and allowing Kyouko to have her way with her. She whimpered when Kyouko's knee slipped between her thighs and pressed upwards, and she knew they were going to be in trouble if she didn't exercise control, and quickly.

Slipping her hands free, Homura held Kyouko back and caught her breath, the redhead growled at being interrupted in her ministrations. But Homura held one finger to the redhead's lips to silence her, speaking with a voice ragged with arousal.

"If I let you go any further," She wheezed, "We will end up naked on the floor."

Kyouko bored her eyes in her, and Homura felt her knees wobble. "I fail to see how that is a problem," She said, her soft lips moving tenderly against the shield user's finger.

Homura swallowed hard, steeling her resolve. "We'll be late for school."

Kyouko closed her eyes and unexpectedly wrapped her lips around her lover's finger, sucking on it gently as she stared up at Homura with half lidded irises. "I am _perfectly_ fine with that."

Homura groaned as Kyouko pushed her up against the wall again, her head already raising compliantly so that the redhead could attack her neck.

It was going to be a long day.

* * *

><p>Mami stared at her own reflection in the mirror, eyes searching.<p>

She reached out and touched her likeness in the glass pane, slender finger trailing across the reflection of her own jaw before falling to the edge of the sink. For some reason her face felt more alive today, more three dimensional, undistorted by whatever wretched lens she had been wearing until now.

They had stayed up talking for the rest of the day, after Kiku had showered and rubbed the muck off of her body. The brunette had emerged in a billow of steam with nothing but a towel around her slim figure, and Mami had found herself instinctively looking away to preserve her friend's modesty. Which was odd, since she couldn't remember the last time she had seriously thought about the way Kiku looked. Or maybe she had simply failed to notice?

She felt further pangs of guilt when Kiku told her the story of what had happened to Homura. The girl had been under no obligation to go so far for the both of them,yet fate had rewarded her with further suffering. It wasn't fair. Whether she was capable of getting along with Homura or not, she would have to thank her profusely for everything. The shield user rarely did anything that was not to her own benefit, if ever.

"That isn't true," Kiku objected, playing with a strand of her own hair. They were sitting together in a big beanbag that was large enough to hold the two of them, Kiku absentmindedly leaning her head against the blonde's shoulder. "I don't know all of her history, but I think suffering has made her into who she is now. But I think she's still changing, always, like the rest of us. Her aura felt cruel when I first met her; she's become alot friendlier, don't you think?"

"I don't think I ever believed Akemi was a bad person," Mami replied, obligingly stroking her friend's head. The illusionist flushed gently and leaned into her touch. "Perhaps I hated her for having a different outlook on life, but there is no right or wrong in opinion. Besides, I feel like the time for fighting and spite is past. Demons may one day return to this city, but I don't see myself returning to that world...so you're right. Homura and I should get along."

Kiku had reached over and laced their hands together, thumb gliding soothingly over Mami's knuckles.

"You can do it," She said. "It's just one part of yourself that needs to change. The rest should stay the same...the rest of you, I adore."

Words like that were going to be a new part of their relationship from now on, Mami thought, and her thoughts had been preoccupied with the idea when they retired for the night. Kiku seemed to fall asleep quickly, but Mami tossed and turned for hours as her thoughts warred with each other. She was glad that they were off to a fresh start, but there were still so many questions to answer.

And as she stared at her image in the mirror, Mami was still wondering. She cared for Kiku deeply, undoubtedly, but could she call it love? Could she even love another girl? Mami was not overly religious, most magical girls weren't, but she had never put serious thought into issues regarding her own sexuality. Things like that had never been a priority for her. So she found herself completely without opinion now.

But Kiku had asked her to disregard the "small stuff." Logic, circumstance, gender; ultimately love was the harmony between two souls. If not another magical girl, who could Mami ever hope to love? Though she didn't consider herself overly cynical, she had always held the nagging thought that much of Homura and Kyouko's partnership was borne out of necessity, rather than a predominant preference. No one could ever understand people like them without being in the same camp themselves.

She didn't want to choose to be with Kiku just because she "had to." That was would the greatest cruelty to both of them. No, if she was going to open herself up to this, it had to be through genuine desire.

Did she want Kiku?

Mami thought about it for a solid five minutes, then grumbled and dunked her head into the sink.

Well, it wasn't the kind of question she could answer that easily.

* * *

><p>A week passed smoothly, albeit slowly, as it was filled with torrents of change.<p>

There was a tangible shift in their relationship now. Kiku hadn't been lying when she declared that she would be pursuing Mami with earnest now, and the promise had seeped surely into their interactions throughout the day. The brunette's eyes would linger on Mami for longer than usual, and when they brushed against each other the slightly younger girl seemed supremely reluctant to pull away. Her eyes became brighter, her words thicker, and as Mami was quick to realize, her best friend was more than capable of talking smoothly if she felt like it.

"You really love your honey, don't you?" The blonde had asked one day, as Kiku sat cross legged on the couch with a potful of the stuff in her lap. The illusionist had lifted her head to regard her friend with languid eyes.

"Well, it is my favorite."

"Favorite in the whole world?" Mami had teased, reaching over for a plate.

Kiku's eyes shallowed as she looked at Mami almost hungrily. "Second favorite," She mouthed softly, irises lingering on the blonde's form just long enough to make her blush hotly. She hid herself behind the plate until Kiku smiled and looked away.

Things like that weren't the only change between them. In her ignorance, Mami had forgotten how strong willed Kiku actually was. They got into arguments more often now, usually over petty things such as what to have for dinner, but it was a significant departure from the demure compliance the brunette had exuded beforehand. But if this was who the real Kiku was, Mami was more than willing to have a thousand more arguments. It hurt her every day to think that she had been smothering her friend's soul for so long.

"Kiku are you ready yet?" Mami called out for the umpteenth time, straightening her own collar in the mirror. She gave herself a once over before cocking her head, awaiting a reply.

"I'm coming!" The brunette hollered from inside the bathroom. Mami rolled her eyes, going back to straightening herself out with the mirror. Kiku fell right into the stereotype of a girl who took _way_ too long to get ready.

Well, not that she hadn't put effort in this, herself. Mami bit her lip as she examined herself in the mirror. She and Kiku were meant to meet up for dinner with Homura and Kyouko tonight, and though none of them were brazen enough to splurge on a high-end restaurant, their place of choice required a little more than casual everyday wear. She flicked invisible lint balls off her shoulders as she tried to convince herself that was the only reason.

Well, no. It wasn't really. She had yet to decide how she was going to respond to Kiku's...less than subtle advances, but there was nothing wrong with wanting to look nice in front of a friend. Presentation was important, after all! If she wanted to look prim then she should be able to do just that...

"Okay, I'm ready. Let's go!" Kiku said, emerging from the bathroom door. Her hands were occupied with her hair, deft fingers tying a brightly colored bow into the locks. The illusionist stopped short, however, when her eyes fell on Mami.

"Oh, wow," She mouthed, eyes scanning unapologetically. "You look great."

Mami blushed modestly, self consciously tugging at the hem of her pitch black skirt. The movement only seemed to intensify Kiku's gaze, however, and she settled for playing nervously with the ends of her hair instead. "Th-Thanks."

"No ringlets today?" Kiku asked, stepping forward and running a finger through Mami's hair, which had been let down for today. It was hard to tell when they were pinned up in spirals all the time, but the blonde's hair actually fell down to her shoulders like a sheet of gold.

Mami closed her eyes, heart rate spiking in spite of herself. "I though I would shake things up a little." She opened her eyes and looked her friend over. "You don't look so bad yourself."

Had she said the same thing some months ago, it would have passed as a lazy compliment. But thanks to recent developments, such a statement was laden with suggestion, and Mami regretted it the second it left her tongue. Kiku reddened and tugged at her hair ribbon, tightening it unnecessarily. "I-It's nothing really..."

"Right," Mami conceded, nodding violently. God, this had to be bad for her health. "How about we get going?" She suggested, barely managing to avoid a stutter as she abruptly headed for the door. Kiku followed closely, making the blonde eternally grateful that she had decided to keep her hair down, since it hid her reddening ears.

_She looks pretty good from behind, too..._ Kiku thought languidly as the door clicked closed behind them.

* * *

><p>"Are you sure we're at the right place?" Homura asked unsurely, glancing around self consciously around her. She had been afraid of dressing inappropriately for the occasion, but thankfully everyone else in the restaurant seemed to have donned similar attire.<p>

"Yes," Kyouko replied irritably for the fourth time. "I told you, I made sure like five times. This is the right place."

Homura rolled her eyes and crossed her legs under the table, using her hands to smooth out her skirt over her knees. "Well, knowing you, I wouldn't be surprised if you misread it five times."

"Thanks, Homura. I can feel the love."

"Nonesense. I was being derogatory."

They had left a little early to be punctual, as Homura had insisted, but that didn't excuse Kiku and Mami from being this late. It was a quaint little joint, tucked away inside a quiet part of the city where the metropolitan drone wasn't so strong. It was a nice place to have dinner with friends, but Homura didn't know what her wallet would think about coming here too often.

Kyouko rolled her eyes. "If you didn't have such a pretty head I probably would've bashed it in by now."

Homura eyed her from behind long, actually modified lashes. "As if you could."

"If I can get you to beg for release, I can make you beg for your life too."

They both stared each other down for a while, then broke out into small giggles, afraid to disturb the nearby customers. Homura reached over and tried to swat Kyouko on the shoulder, but the redhead caught her hand and leaned down to briefly kiss her lover's knuckles.

"Maybe we should set aside a weekend to duke it out," Kyouko suggested as she attempted to smother her chuckling. "I've always wanted to find out which one is the better fighter."

"Well, based on previous evidence, I'd give myself a slight edge," Homura said. She closed her eyes and took a brief sip from her cup.

Previous evidence? "Oh, the timeline thing," Kyouko said aloud. Her partner simply nodded. "You've never explained that to me in full, have you?"

Homura set her drink down and opened her eyes, staring thoughtfully into the water.

"No," She admitted. "I haven't. One day I will."

"Why not now?" Kyouko asked, not one to take up on patience or waiting. She leaned her elbows on the table and stared at Homura expectantly.

But the raven haired girl simply shook her head. "I'll tell you eventually, I promise. It just...isn't something I like to remember." She squeezed the redhead's hand on top of the table to appease her.

Kyouko frowned. "But-"

"My, aren't you two lovebirds occupied already?" A chipper sounding voice intercepted any further conversation, and they looked up to see Kiku walking jauntily towards them, Mami in close pursuit. The pair took seats across the table, and Kyouko leaned back away from Homura, letting their earlier conversation slide for now.

"You're late," Homura pointed out. The brunette just shrugged.

"Kiku took her time getting ready," Mami said blandly. Two accusing pairs of eyes turned on the illusionist, who crossed her arms in defiance.

"It was for a good cause!" Homura gave her friend the once over and decided that it was; she looked nice. "Besides, you know you like seeing me dressed up and everything," Kiku added, leaning suggestively into Mami's shoulder. The blonde, much to Homura and Kyouko's surprise, blushed gently before looking away.

"You're late when you're late, Kiku. You always make excuses," The blonde sighed. Kiku snickered and sang out a brief apology.

[_Don't they seem a bit...different?_] Kyouko asked, making Homura's ears twitch. She kept her expression straight though, not wanting their friends to know they were communicating privately. [_Kiku is almost flirting with her._]

[_Well, she is interested in Mami,_] Homura reminded her, tapping her knee in thought. [_It seems as if those two have come to terms with each other._]

[_I'd say,_] Kyouko thought, watching as the brunette attempted to teasingly feed a bread stick to the blonde, who was pushing the thing away even as a sheepish smile crept along her face. [_They look happier._] The realization made Kyouko smile.

[_Maybe we'll actually get some peace and quiet around here, then,_] Homura said, turning her head slightly to catch Kyouko's gaze. The redhead easily lost herself in those violet gems. [_I could do with a little boredom in my lifestyle._]

Kyouko grinned wolfishly, poking her lover in the thigh beneath the table.

[_No relationship with me is going to be boring, honey._]

Homura smirked, her lips forming a fascinating curve. [_I'm counting on it._]

"Hellooo? Earth to anybody?"

Blinking, Kyouko turned her head and saw that Kiku was trying to get their attention, the brunette's mouth pouting at being ignored.

"Look, I know you two are madly in love with each other, but could you possibly spare a second or two for the rest of us?" She continued sarcastically, chomping into the breadstick she had just been using to torment Mami, who was smiling bemusedly at them.

Homura lowered her head in embarrassment, but Kyouko managed to keep level eye contact with the illusionist. "I'd love to listen if you have anything actually interesting to say."

"How rude of you," Kiku replied blandly, flipping idly through the menu. "So, what are you guys getting?"

Just as Kyouko began leafing through the extensive list of elaborately named dishes, a waiter walked over and asked for their order. She ordered the most caloric thing on the page she happened to be on, which raised the man's eyebrows, though he said nothing. Which was just as well, since Kyouko had more than enough words for someone who would ask for an order and then criticize said order.

[_So, you and Homura seem to have gotten closer,_] Kiku smirked over the edge of her menu. [_How about it, Kyouko? Have you popped the cherry yet?_]

The redhead slowly set her own menu down on the table and sat up straight in her chair, giving the brunette an appraising look.

[_Yes,_] She said simply, but as much emphasis on the word as possible.

Kiku gaped at her, which turned out to be bad timing, since it had been her turn to order for the past ten seconds.

"Madam?" The waiter asked impatiently, obviously strapped for time. He tapped his clipboard sharply with a pen, snapping Kiku out of her stupor.

"Oh! Ah...I'll have...this thing!" She declared, jabbing her finger at something apparently random on the menu. The waiter frowned and leaned over to get a closer look.

"Just the glass of water, madam?"

"Huh?" Kiku squeaked, reddening noticeably. Kyouko burst into laughter as Mami gracefully took over, swiftly selecting something she knew Kiku would like before sending the waiter on his way, the man shooting them disapproving looks as he disappeared into the kitchen. The brunette sighed in relief before sagging into her seat, then looked up and glared daggers at Kyouko, who feigned ignorance.

"That's what you get for not paying attention, I suppose," Homura said, stirring her glass of water with the straw. Little did Kiku know, she had still been attached to Kyouko's consciousness when the brunette initiated their brief conversation, and she had just barely managed to conceal her presence in time. Luckily the girl hadn't noticed, and Homura was now contemplating the possible consequences of having Kiku know just how far she and Kyouko had gone.

"Well, enough about me, I guess," Kiku grumbled, waving her hand flippantly. Leaning over, she took Homura's hand in hers and changed her tone to something softer. "How have you been since yesterday, Homura? Were you hurt anywhere?"

"I'm fine, Kiku," The shield user assured her. "Kyouko took good care of me."

[_Yeah, I'm sure she did,_] The illusionist snarked to the redhead, who only showed her teeth playfully. Homura, who was still connected, suppressed a twitch of the lips.

Mami shook her head. "We should have all realized that it isn't so safe beyond the borders of the city. But I don't blame you for forgetting, Homura. It's only been a few months, but I've already grown accustomed to this life devoid of violence..."

"People acclimate to comfort more readily that anything else," Homura supplied simply. The mirthful mood had simmered down to a good natured brim. "There is nothing wrong with latching on to convenience. It just tends to be the end of people like us."

Mami nodded in agreement. Then she leaned forward herself, bringing her voice to a hush so that only those at the table could hear them. "That leads me to what I wanted to say next, actually. I have...a lot to be apologetic for. And grateful."

Homura remained silent, quietly watching the blonde with accommodating eyes that told her to continue. Mami marveled at finding kindness in those irises where there had only been cold hard flint. The girl really had changed, bit by bit. Exhaling, she stared into her own glass.

"You were only on that train because you went out of your way to take me to Junko," Mami said, pressing the glass between her palms. "Therefore, I feel responsible for the predicament you found yourself in. And for that...I am truly sorry. My follies were transferred unto you."

Homura was quick to smile, however, and took another conservative sip from her drink. "I don't blame you for any of it, Mami. I chose to help you of my own volition. Besides, even if I knew what was going to happen I wouldn't have had second thoughts. I didn't want Kiku to stay the way she was."

The blonde smiled softly, her straw falling forward and poking into her lower lip, the black tube of plastic indenting upon the soft flesh there.

"And that's where the gratitude comes in," She said, turning to glance briefly back at Kiku. "Your actions were what allowed me to understand my treatment of Kiku, and we have subsequently come to terms with each other. There are a lot of things I need to change about myself, and it will be difficult, but I was only able to start because of your interference. So I wanted to thank you."

Homura smiled again. "I appreciate the sentiment," She said, "But it wasn't entirely philanthropy. I did it for Kiku as much as I did it for you. Maybe now we can all get along, for once."

Mami's head swam. Akemi Homura, suggesting that they all get along?

"I realize that our relationship thus far has been tentative at best," She admitted. "It was to be expected at first, but now that you have endeared yourself to both Kyouko and Kiku I see no reason to continue that trend. So..." The blonde nervously stuck a hand out over the table. "Maybe we could...be friends?"

Homura stared into the older girl's eyes, and thought about an earlier time where Kyouko had convinced her to not leave Mami to die in an empty hospital building. She had been more than willing to let the Radix tear her apart at the time, but she had gone anyway, because she had known even then that Mami was a good person at heart. Yes, the road to hell was paved with good intentions and all that, but it always was, wasn't it? She had hated Mami for being unable to control her situation in the past, but having seen a little more of this great fathomless world, the shield user now thought that she couldn't blame anyone for a little bad luck.

Raising her own hand, Homura grasped Mami's and shook it firmly.

"I'd be honored."

Kiku threw her hands up in the air. "_Finally,_" She exclaimed. "Now can we start eating, please?"

Looking up, the rest of them realized that the waiter from before was waiting irritably by the table, holding their food in both hands. He looked an inch away from hurling the plates in their faces, and the girls all scrambled to make room as he dumped the food down and left with haste, muttering something about the new generation being the worst one to ever disgrace their mothers' wombs.

As they began to dig in, Kiku caught Kyouko's gaze again.

[_I want all the juicy details later,_] She said, winking.

[_Like hell,_] Kyouko snorted, stabbing into her lobster. [_Do you really think I'd tell you how it all went down?_]

Kiku huffed. "Don't you want any tips at all?"

"I can eat Homura out just fine, thank you," Kyouko grumbled. The shield user went very still beside her.

"Kyouko," She breathed, "You just said that out loud."

The redhead blinked, comprehension dawning. "Oh," She said dumbly, feeling the beginnings of a blush. She looked over at Mami, who was frowning at the two of them.

"What's this about 'eating out'?" She asked curiously, munching on a slice of meat.

Kyouko and Kiku glanced at each other simultaneously.

[_Your mess,_] Kiku said immediately.

[_Excuse me?!_]

[_You're the one who said it!_]

"Ah...oh, you know! The punchline for that one joke!" Kyouko exclaimed, mind going a thousand miles per hour. "Surely you've heard it before."

"I'm afraid not."

"Well, here it is," Kyouko said readily, clearing her throat. "Why do lesbians never have enough food at home?"

Homura blanched, and Kiku choked on her breadstick, but Mami just tilted her head curiously.

"Why, Kyouko?"

Homura glared at her. [_I know this joke, Kyouko. Don't do it._]

[_Oh, I am so going to do it._]

[_If you utter another _word,_ I am going to-_]

"Because they always eat out!" The redhead bellowed, her face an impressive shade of red. Homura groaned and slammed her forehead into the edge of the table, while Kiku seemed to have disappeared underneath the table as she fought to not die from choking on bread. The waiter from before stuck his head out and glared irritably at them as several of the customers sitting at adjacent tables began smothering their own laughter.

Mami just stared at her friend, the joke obviously lost on her.

"I don't get it," She said blandly, as Homura walked around the table and began slapping Kiku on the back.

"Me neither, old friend," Kyouko agreed, holding up her glass. "Me neither."

* * *

><p>They talked long into the night, occupying the table they had taken for themselves until it was nearly closing hour. Eventually, not just that particular waiter but the entire staff started giving them exasperated stares, so they decided to leave. It was not with much remorse, however; they had joked and laughed to their hearts' content, even Homura and Mami, who had both discovered that the other held a particular interest in mystery novels. That topic occupied them for a good hour, until Kyouko faked an immensely loud snore and drew further daggers from the eyes of the other customers.<p>

Since the day the doctors had told Homura that she had contracted a heart condition, she had been trying to figure out what happiness meant. And for the longest time, she had only discovered antitheses to said happiness. It certainly wasn't in the mechanical beeping of the heart beat monitor by her hospital bed, or in the sharp painful scent of disinfectant or the way the sound of nurse's latex gloves snapped and lashed at the ears. Contentment wasn't in a life of darkness and despair or an endless fight that had no end, or in a world where the one you loved would never stand by your side again. Nor was it is sleepless nights spend huddled in a dimly lit corner, eyes leaking slowly as she contemplated her reasons for continuing to live.

When Madoka had ascended to godhood, Homura had thought that perhaps she was destined to never be happy.

But as she laughed along with her friends at stupid jokes, offered snide remarks and sent glares at Kyouko that would inevitably soften into gazes filled with love, Home felt something between them all. And after that night, without demons hugging the corners of their conscious or the imminent threat of her own body collapsing in on itself, there could only be peace. And from peace, she thought one day, could be born happiness.

It was in the way Kiku smiled now, how alive she looked now that Mami had accepted her. Perhaps the blonde would never love her, but the cloud of oppression had been lifted. It was in the way Mami greeted her every day at school now, since they were supposed to be getting along. It was in the way Kyouko wasn't afraid to make their relationship public to everyone else, students or friends alike, and Homura could only blush gently when the redhead graced her with gentle kisses to the temple whenever she had to leave first, letting anyone who happened to be watching know that Akemi Homura belonged to her.

It was in the way she got to wake up every morning with her lover's scent wreathing around her, and close her eyes to the same aroma every night. It was in the way they held each other, in the way they talked, in the way they made love. But most of all, it was in the way that Kyouko would squeeze Homura tight every now and then before whispering that she loved her. Homura would shiver every time she heard those words, and it was one drug that would never loose its potency. She hadn't known it before, but knowing that someone cared about her and was physically _there_ made life so much better.

In all those things, she thought, there must be happiness.

Indeed, as the latent days of spring wore away to admit the brush strokes of summer, Homura was happy. Happiness had both its universal and personal meanings, and she felt that she had finally managed to define it for herself.

But Homura never forgot. She never forgot the place from whence she had risen, the twisting blackness her soul had rotted within until only recently. If there was another thing she had learned about life, it was that it was fleeting and but temporary, a transient stage of soul encompassed by the human experience.

So as the summer days grew longer and the end of her last school year began to approach, Homura never forgot the seminal words that had both motivated heroes and broken the hearts of gods.

That this, too, would pass.

* * *

><p>Kyouko eyed Homura intently.<p>

The time traveler continued to ignore her as she had been for the past several minutes. They were both sitting on the couch close together, and Homura was currently enjoying the last slice of chocolate cake. She was taking her sweet time too, probably to torment Kyouko, who had thrown a huge tantrum at not getting the last slice. But the shield user had put her foot down and insisted that if the redhead had anymore cake she was bound to get diabetes.

"What are you staring at?" Homura asked at last, not taking her gaze off the small plate she had held up in her hand. She stabbed the corner of the cake and pried off another small piece, inspecting it for a moment before sticking the fork in her mouth.

"Nothing," Kyouko replied haughtily. "Are you going to be eating that thing all day?"

Homura closed her eyes in apparent thought, lips working around the neck of the fork. "I'm just savoring it."

"Preserving it, more like."

The shield user turned two languid eyes on her partner, making the redhead lick her lips unconsciously. "You aren't getting any, if that's what you're thinking."

Kyouko made a face. "Are we talking about the cake...or you?" She asked slyly, batting her eyelashes playfully at her friend. Homura rolled her eyes and went back to absorbing herself within the cake, so Kyouko let her head fall back onto the couch arm, sighing to herself.

"I meant the cake," Homura mumbled under her breath, just loud enough to tickle the redhead's ears.

Kyouko reopened her eyes and sat up, mind clicking and whirring. "The cake, huh? Well, I figured as much." She got on her knees and slowly crawled over to Homura, who was trying her best not to flush and looked away pointedly. The redhead laughed inwardly. Even after all the indecent things they had both done to each other, the shield user still got embarrassed like this. It was adorable.

Homura coughed, swallowing her most recent forkful. "Yes," She muttered. "The cake." Her shoulders seemed to tense when Kyouko sidled up and pressed against her, the tips of the redhead's hair feathering Homura's ear.

"So does that mean I could get some of _this_?" Kyouko asked softly, placing a hand on Homura's leg and drawing slow circles on the inside of her thighs with a thumb. Homura bit her lip as the tips of her ears flamed, her breath already shallowing as Kyouko pressed even closer, making sure that the time traveler was reminded of that fact that the redhead didn't make a habit wearing underwear at home.

"If you don't mind," Kyouko continued to whisper, making Homura swallow hard, "I'd love to get a bite." She concluded the sentence by reached up and gently tugging at her partner's ear with her teeth, letting a heavy sigh slip out as she did.

Homura groaned and instinctively grabbed Kyouko's arm, slender fingers sinking into the girl's flesh. "You...you're a little devil, you know that?" She asked, her voice coming out more harshly than intended.

"I know you have a thing for bad girls," The redhead smirked, using one finger to turn Homura's head to face her own. Then she closed her eyes and kissed the girl, immediately pushing on the shield user's shoulders so that they fell onto the couch, air filling with soft sighs and whispered nothings.

Homura whimpered beneath Kyouko's attentions, her fingers going slack. The fork fell out of her hand and clattered onto the plate, but the sound was ignored in favor of tasting something other than cake.

"W-Wait," Homura gasped out, almost losing control of the word when Kyouko began sucking on her collarbone. The redhead looked up at her impatiently.

"What?"

"I..." The time traveler blushed. "I thought were going to have lunch?"

The redhead narrowed her eyes. "I _am_ having lunch."

Homura's follow up was smothering when Kyouko interrupted it with another very persuasive kiss, which she inevitably melted into. She made a small sound when Kyouko slipped one hand up her lover's shirt, the younger girl arcing her back into her partner's touch.

When she failed to notice, however, was Kyouko's other hand scrabbling for the fork.

The redhead seemed to suddenly pull away, and Homura looked up in confusion as Kyouko sat up all the way, straddling the shield user's hips.

"What are you doing?" She muttered, a little irked that Kyouko wasn't continuing when she had been the one to start this.

Her partner just stared sympathetically down at her.

"Sorry about this," Kyouko muttered, before shoving the entire cake into her mouth.

Homura gaped as the redhead, who had stabbed the entire remaining slice of cake onto the fork, gobbled the treat up in one bite before swallowing whole. Kyouko grimaced as she forced the stuff down her throat, feeling it traveling down her esophagus. Letting out a loud breath of exhale, Kyouko dropped the fork and patted her stomach in satisfaction. She looked down at Homura's bewildered face and shrugged.

"You wouldn't let me have the cake," She said simply.

Homura responded by hooking her legs around the redhead's waist and flipping them over, sending the world spinning as Kyouko suddenly found her head being pressed into the cushions, almost choking when the remnants of cake in her mouth fell halfway down her throat. She was about to prop herself up on her elbows and complain, but Homura slid one hand between the redhead's breasts and pinned her back down, trapping her with a gaze of fire.

"You do realize I was looking forward to that cake all day?" Homura's frigid voice chilled the room to an absolute zero, but Kyouko didn't flinch.

"It's your fault for taking so long to finish it," The redhead replied haughtily, crossing her arms.

Homura snorted. "You-"

Her cell rang at that exact moment, discarding the rest of the sentence. Frowning, Homura twisted around and pulled the device from the pocket, preparing to check the caller ID. But Kyouko plucked the thing from her hand and tossed it across the room, sending it sliding under the kitchen table. Homura watched it go with raised eyebrows, then looked back down at Kyouko, who was grinning as she gripped the girl's hips with zeal.

"Before you answer that call," The redhead purred, "You are going to finish what you started."

Narrowing her eyes dangerously, Homura leaned forward and spoke right up against the girl's mouth, making her gasp. "I believe it was _you_ who started this."

"I've had my meal. I'm ready to go," Kyouko snarked back, lifting her head to nibble briefly at Homura's earlobe. She glowed with satisfaction when the time traveler's finger's tightened. "Besides, we've got to keep you healthy, right?"

Homura sighed as the cell phone continued to ring from somewhere at the far side of the room. "Something tells me my health isn't your primary motivation for doing this."

"Well, it's for my health too," Kyouko admitted, winking up at her lover, who only rolled her eyes.

"You really want me to kick you ass today, don't you?" Homura drawled, crawling up the length of Kyouko's body until they were nose to nose, big violet eyes blinking demurely.

Kyouko groaned, feeling her grip on Homura's hips tighten. The time traveler had started swearing more fluently when around her, and for some stupid reason she found it to be unbearably attractive. Resolving to draw some more swear words from her partner, the redhead pulled Homura into another embrace, to which the shield user finally complied.

Somewhere in the corner, the call went to silent voicemail.

* * *

><p>"Sorry I couldn't pick up earlier. You called?" Homura said into the receiver, slotting the phone between her cheek and shoulder in order to swat Kyouko's hands, which were roaming over her body.<p>

_"It's okay. Just had something to tell you,"_ Mishki said from the other end of the line. _"Remember how I said I would look for someone who might know something about your condition?"_

"I do," Homura replied. Honestly though, she had forgotten until now. Her sickness had ceased to be an issue lately, and the thought had receded to the back of her mind.

_"Well, turns out we had a match closer than we expected,"_ Mishki continued. _"I asked Seiyaku about it a little while ago and she said she knew someone who might be able to help us."_

"Who?" The shield user prompted, smacking a hand off her backside. Kyouko pouted beneath her.

_"Her girlfriend,"_ Mishki replied frankly, raising Homura's eyebrows. _"A healer primarily, but she also deals with psychological therapy and the conditioning of souls, or something like that. I admit that I was focusing more on the girlfriend part of it, though."_

Homura did not blame the guide at all; that probably would have been her reaction too. "Well, good for her I suppose," She said blandly into the line. She was surprised, but not fazed. It seemed like everyone was hooking up with someone else these days, to be honest.

_"Her name's Kanade. Maybe she'll have some answers for you, Homura."_

She didn't know about that. To be completely logical, there was no harm in seeing Kanade and letting the girl take a look into her health. But Homura wasn't that kind of a person anymore, at least not so much, and part of her didn't want to revisit the entire soul sickness issue again. As if she could erase its existence by ignoring it. It was a fool's path and she knew it, but sometimes emotion was synonymous with ignorance.

"Yeah," She replied softly into the line, so that Kyouko stopped groping her and instead tilted her head curiously. "Maybe she will."

* * *

><p>Seiyaku and her newfound companion were due to arrive by gravity train in three days, and Homura found herself rising early to greet the couple. Kyouko was grumpy about having to wake up early as usual, but for once Homura felt inclined to agree. She wasn't looking forward to this meeting either.<p>

It wasn't that she was expecting anything bad to happen. As the two of them slipped out the door and started walking towards the train station, Homura made sure to remind herself of this. It was just the fear that something _would_ happen. Her assumption that the sickness had been healed was just that, an assumption, with no conclusive evidence to support it. A lack of symptoms was not always a surefire sign of health. For all she knew the virus could be lurking beneath her skin.

And so she found herself gritting her teeth the whole way to the station, and when they ended up arriving early Homura sat down on a bench by the platform and clenched her knuckles until they hurt. Kyouko sat down beside her and waited for her lover to say something, but when the girl said nothing she reached down and held Homura's hands in hers.

"Hey. What's wrong?" The redhead prodded, squeezing the girl's hand. Homura closed her eyes and absorbed Kyouko's warmth. But the bench, the concrete platform, the air around her, everything else remained cold.

"Nothing," She lied easily, thinking that not even Kyouko would pick up on the facade if she tried.

"You're lying," Kyouko said bluntly, and Homura blinked at her in surprise. "I'm not stupid, okay? I feel like you forget that sometimes." The irritation in her voice was obvious, and Homura immediately felt horrid for lying. "I know you well enough by now to tell the difference between truths and lies."

Homura bowed her head. "Sorry," She murmured. Kyouko's sharp gaze softened, and she brushed a thumb over the girl's knuckles.

"It's okay," The redhead amended. "I'm sorry for getting angry. I'm just worried. You've been salty all day."

The shield user sighed through her nose.

"It's because of Shizuki Kanade," She professed, rubbing the toe of her shoe into the concrete.

"Seiyaku's girl?"

"Mmm. Mishki told me she's a healer who can look into souls, and that she might know something about my condition."

"Oh." Kyouko's voice echoed up and down the empty platform. "And you're afraid she'll find something wrong with you?"

Homura nodded.

Kyouko squeezed her hand again. Then she brought it up and breathed warm air onto the girl's fingers, combatting the chilly morning air. "Well, I won't tell you that she won't find anything," She replied. "That would be stupid. But even if she does...it doesn't matter. We'll get through it."

The time traveler smiled, eyes closed. "Cliche'd line."

"It's cliche' for a reason," Kyouko said simply, letting Homura's hands back down.

Then the gravity train came blasting in out of nowhere, whipping both of their hair up in the massive gales of wind that came in its wake. Homura shielded her eyes as the vehicle slowed to a noiseless stop, a brief pause filling the time before the doors hissed open to admit its passengers onto the platform. She and Kyouko stood and walked halfway to the train, keeping an eye out for a familiar blue head as the platform began to fill with people.

Seiyaku didn't keep them waiting. A voice called out to their left, and they turned to see the faction leader running towards them across the platform with another girl in tow. Homura found herself smiling when she saw the girl. It had been a while since she had been actually happy to meet an old acquaintance again.

"Seiyaku! How've ya been?" Kyouko greeted amicably, slapping the older girl on the back when she caught up with them. Seiyaku laughed and pulled the redhead into a quick hug, then stepped back.

"I've been great. Long time to no see, Homura!" She extended a hand, which the shield user warmly shook. "Gosh, it's already been months since you left Kazamino. It's been too long."

"I'll say," Kyouko snorted, instinctively putting an arm around Homura's shoulders as she spoke. Then her eyes drifted downwards, to the diminutive girl hiding behind Seiyaku's shoulders. "Is this the lady we've been hearing about?"

"Oh, right. Mishki told you?" Seiyaku laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. Then she stepped aside, exposing the girl who had been taking refuge behind her. "Kanade, say hello!"

There was a shrill squeak as Shizuki Kanade covered her face upon being revealed, crouching towards the platform as if she were trying to be devoured by it. Homura and Kyouko simply stared as Seiyaku sighed in exasperation. It seemed that this was a common occurrence. "Come on, Kanade. These are my friends! Didn't you say you wanted to meet them?"

Reaching down, Seiyaku grabbed the girl by her shoulders and made her face the other two, who continued staring. Kanade peeked at them meekly from a crack in her fingers, and Homura saw a shy emerald colored iris. The girl's hair was of a similar shade, a fair looking green that fell down her shoulders and framed her face, or at least Homura imagined that it framed her face, since said face was currently hidden.

"H-Hello there," Kanade mumbled nervously, extending a hesitant hand. "I'm Sh-Shizuki K-Kanade. V-Very nice to meet you."

"Shizuki...Shizuki? Why do I feel like I've heard that name before?" Kyouko wondered aloud.

"I do believe you are thinking of Shizuki Hitomi," Homura offered.

"Ah, right. Kanade did say she had a cousin here in Mitakihara," Seiyaku remembered, looking thoughtful.

"Hey, it's a small world I guess!" Kyouko shrugged, grabbing Kanade's hand with her own and shaking it firmly. "Nice to meet you, Shizuki. Let's get along!" The girl nodded minimally, but she looked a little less nervous than earlier.

"Akemi Homura," The time traveler said politely, bowing her head as she offered her own hand. "Kyouko and I both owe Seiyaku alot. Thanks for taking care of her."

Kanade smiled shyly at the faction leader's mention. "She's the one always taking care of me," She giggled softly. "But thank you." She reached out to reciprocate the handshake, their palms meeting above the platform.

As soon as their skin made contact, however, the girl seemed to go rigid. Homura blinked as Kanade gasped and yanked her hand back, clutching it to her chest as she took an instinctive step away from the shield user.

"I..I-I-" The healer stuttered badly, face paling considerably.

"Kanade? What's wrong?" Seiyaku demanded, crouching in front of her girl and grasping her hands. Passerby began to whisper amongst themselves as the healer just shook her head violently, chest rising and falling rapidly.

"Shizuku-san?" Homura asked, genuinely concerned. She took a step forward and raised one hand to offer assistance, but the timid girl seemed to flinch away from her touch. She retracted her hand, feeling hurt but more confused than anything else. Had she done something wrong? What was going on?"

"Hey, you alright?" Kyouko repeated, putting a firm hand on Kanade's shoulder. The healer didn't shirk away from the redhead, instead nodding slowly in response. She seemed to have stopped shaking. Seiyaku frowned and stood back up, though she kept the girl's hand held tight in her own.

"We can take it easy today if you're just feeling tired," The faction leader said, and her partner nodded meekly. "Is there anywhere we can go to get something to eat?" she asked, facing Homura.

"Yeah," She murmured, eyes still lingering on Kanade, who refused to look at her. "Just follow me."

* * *

><p>"So, how's Kazamino?" Kyouko asked eagerly, desperate to know how her hometown was doing. She leaned forward, almost pushing her cup of coffee off the table. Homura pointedly picked it up and moved it to a safer location.<p>

"It's getting better," Seiyaku laughed. She seemed much more easygoing than she had been some months ago. Her hair had grown out a little from the short spiky style she had had before. It made her look less formidable, but almost more mature and beautiful, in its own way. "The factions are learning to coexist, and some of them are starting to realize that there's no point in forming packs if there isn't any fighting to be done. Alot of the smaller groups have started breaking up, and I think the larger ones will go, given time."

Kyouko closed her eyes and smiled, content. "I'd hate to see that place get thrashed any more than it already has," She murmured. "God knows it's been through enough already."

"Enough indeed," Seiyaku agreed. She took a long draught from her drink. "You and the rest of the Mitakihara puella magi are still the talk of the town, you know. We are all aware than nothing could have changed had you not come. The magical girls of Kazamino are forever in your debt."

"Oh, please," Kyouko snorted, laughing off the compliment. "You don't have to praise us all like that. Everyone knows it was totally all me!"

Homura rolled her eyes as Seiyaku laughed. Her gaze fell on Kanade, catching the healer staring at her. The diminutive girl paled and averted her eyes. Homura narrowed her own.

"Were Mami and Kiku busy today?" Seiyaku asked, stirring her cup thoughtfully.

"They had to clear some more paperwork regarding their new business," Homura answered. "It wasn't something that could wait, but they send their regards. You could see them tomorrow, if you'd like."

"I've missed those two too," Seiyaku smiled. "But hey, a business, huh? Tell me, has Kiku managed to get through to Mami yet?"

Homura and Kyouko exchanged a glance. "I wouldn't say she's made it all the way yet," The redhead murmured, "But she's getting somewhere. Better than nothing, I guess."

"I suppose it is only a matter of time," Seiyaku shrugged, finishing the rest of her tea. Kanade tugged on her sleeve, and when she looked the healer asked her something through telepathy.

"Bathroom?" Seiyaku said aloud, blinking. Kanade blushed at having her purpose revealed but nodded nonetheless. "Hm. I don't know where it is in this place. Do you guys know?" She asked, turning to face the younger couple.

Kyouko opened her mouth to answer, but Homura did the mental equivalent of kicking her under the table. The redhead bit her own tongue as Homura graciously rose from her seat. "I can accompany Shizuki-san to the restroom," She offered, letting her heavy gaze fall on the smaller girl.

"Really? Thanks," Seiyaku said, giving her partner a brief pat on the back. "Come on, go with Homura." The healer gave her a terrified look that went unnoticed, but her soft verbal protests were all but smothered when Homura practically dragged her out of her seat and down the hall.

She took them to the far side of the restaurant and directed Kanade down another hall. "Second door on the right." The small girl eyed her warily for a moment, probably expecting some sort of confrontation, but Homura simply waved her off. Relief flooded the girl's face, and she slipped quietly into the bathroom, closing the lock behind her.

Homura scoffed inwardly. She wasn't _that_ nice.

She just hated confronting people who had full bladders.

She gave Kanade a full two minutes, standing right in front of the door with her ear pressed against the synthetic wood. Making sure no one else was around, she closed her eyes and transformed, the halls glowing a latent purple for a brief moment.

Homura gritted her teeth when a sensation of vertigo gripped her stomach, and she lowered her head in order to let the feeling pass. Not _this_ again. Was it the sickness. No, it couldn't be. She refused to believe it. She was just rusty, that was all. It had been some time since her last transformation. The nausea would pass given time, she was sure of it.

Resigning herself to ignoring the pain, Homura pressed her ear against the door again, just in time to hear the toilet flushing on the other side.

That was her cue. She had Kanade ten more seconds to pull her pants up before activating her shield, the gears clicking together as she attempted to stop time for the first time in months.

The world flashed to a gray monotone around her, and Homura immediately knelt in front of the door with a lock and pin. Years of breaking into yakuza storehouses finally came in handy, and the lock gave way in due time. The door clicked aside and she stepped into the bathroom eyond.

Kanade, thankfully, already had her pants on. She was frozen in the middle of the tiled floor with her hands outstretched towards the sink, a small spurt of water suspended midair between the faucet and the drain like a crystalline tree. Homura stepped inside and shut the door behind her, making sure to lock it again.

She stood there for a few moments, contemplating on how best to approach this. But she didn't have all the time in the world.

Reaching out, she placed a hand on Kanade's shoulder.

The healer sprang back into color the moment they made contact, gasping and sucking in a large breath as she was abruptly pulled into a tear within the fabric of space time. She thrashed around violently for a brief moment, forcing Homura to grab her with both hands for fear of losing her grip. Kanade whirled around and finally made eye contact with her, freezing immediately when she did so.

"O-O-Oh," She breathed, breath coming out shallowly. "I've heard about this."

"Sorry to do this to you," Homura said bluntly, lightening her grip. "But I needed to talk to you alone."

Kanade bit her lip and tried to step away, but then seemed to realize that she had to be touching Homura to stay in the same time loop, and reluctantly shuffled back. "...Why?"

Homura pursed her lips, thinking that she would have been more delicate about this, but they didn't have the time. She would have to be forward.

"When we shook hands earlier, you reacted in a...strange way." Kanade stared shamefully at the tiled floor. "And I have my suspicions about the reason. But I'll let you tell me. What made you react like that?"

The healer continued staring at her shoes, apparently fascinated by the arrangement of the laces. Homura showed her teeth and shook the girl gently, letting her know that patience was in short supply. She looked up at last, her eyes clouded in confusion and fear.

"I...I sensed something. Something that I'd never felt before. I-I've looked into people's souls before, when healing them, but I'd never had..."

"Had what?" Homura pressed, leaning forward intently. Kanade scrambled back to compensate, but the shield user did not relent, and she ended up pushing the healer up against the wall, where she stayed pinned like a rag doll. It was incredibly rude of her to be doing this, she knew; they were but strangers to each other, and Seiyaku was going to kill her if she found out, but Homura needed answers. She was tired of dealing with this sickness. If there was a way to learn the truth, she would do almost anything.

Kanade screwed her eyes shut and lowered her head when she felt her back hit the wall, small frame quivering. "I don't know!" She yelped. "It was...moving. Your soul was, I mean. Which doesn't make sense because it should be encased within your Gem. I don't have a good way to put it, it was all very strange, but...Akemi-san, your soul has _holes._"

Homura felt the blood drain from her face, and her grip on Kanade's shirt slackened.

"What...what do you mean by that?" She rasped, voice rattling like a dead man's. But Kanade just shook her head violently.

"I don't know. I only had a brief glimpse," She insisted, only pleading. Homura would have felt bad about it, but she was too preoccupied with what she had just heard. Holes? In her _soul?_ "Usually I would have more time, but-"

"Time is something I can give," Homura interrupted her, stepping back a little. "If you're ready, I would like to get this over with quickly."

The healer's eyes ballooned. "What do you mean?"

Homura held up her shield arm, tilting the device so that the glowing amethyst on her hand was visible.

"Isn't it obvious?" She said softly, eyes dark and sadistic behind the light of her own soul. "You're going to take another look."

Kanade blanched. "But Seiyaku told me not to-"

"I don't care what Seiyaku said!" Homura snarled, her patience finally snapping. She grabbed the girl's wrist and yanked it towards her own soul gem, assuming that it was probably necessary. "If you would just-"

"I-I-It's an invasion of privacy!" Kanade shrieked, pulling back, though she was not nearly as strong as her adversary.

"Privacy is not an issue. I give you permission," Homura said lowly, drilling the girl against the wall with her stare. The healer quailed beneath her aura, and it was then that Homura realized she must be a recently contracted girl. Homura was miles ahead in both experience and instinct.

Good. That would work to her advantage.

"Please," She whispered, gripping Kanade's wrist and pressing the girl's palm to her Gem, voice straining as her magic use started to take its toll. "I'm scared for my life. I'm _tired_ of having to deal with this. Shizuki-san, I must know." Her eyes were dark and wide, lightless pools of an expsnse that had known too much despair in its lifetime.

Kanade looked deep into those eyes and realized that, whether this ended amicably or not, she really had no choice.

Bowing her head, she gave a nearly imperceptible nod.

"Okay," She whispered, inwardly begging for Seiyaku's forgiveness.

"Alright," Homura huffed, her breathing labored. "Do what you have to do." She straightened up and closed her eyes.

Kanade bit her lip and transformed, her form engulfing itself in a pale green light. It looked alot like the brilliant glow that had erupted outside Mitakihara General, when Kiku had contracted. How long ago that had been. Things had been bad then too.

The healer lifted one glowing hand, her eyes shining with a lily colored power. Her attire had turned into some sort of frilly looking two piece, not unlike Mami's combat form, though it seemed more slimmed down and aerodynamic. Homura looked up and caught the girl's gaze, waiting for further instruction.

"Just...stay still," She advised, reaching for the shield user's Gem. "I've been told this hurts."

Her hand made contact, and Homura's mind went white.

_A black church. Shadows screaming in the corners, their master writhing in the center. _

_An angel soaring high into the rafters, a brilliant white bow and arrow and her hands. A soul infused with the strength of many, but it was too much, not enough space within one human body to contain them all-_

_Pain. Pain as she struggled to plug the holes through which her life was seeping through. Pain as she realized that her body was collapsing in on itself, its infrastructure sabotaged beyond repair._

_Love. Love as relief flooded her conscious, and the pain was lifted. She had someone to slip into now. There was enough space. There was enough._

Enough.

The frigid linoleum floor rushed up fast and hard as Homura collapsed face first, losing her grip on Kanade's shoulder as her shield clattered loudly off the wall. Her magic snapped and the time rushed back into existence like a popped bubble. Sucking in a huge breath, Homura struggled to fill lungs that had gone empty a full minute ago, gasping and thrashing like a fish as she strove to regain control of her wild heart. Kanade fell back against the wall and slid downwards, hands shaking as her own magic faded away.

"I-I...holy..." Her words faded too, lip trembling as the healer processed everything she had just seen.

Homura coughed and slammed one fist onto the floor, using it to push herself up to her knees. Ignoring the pain lancing through her brain, she crawled over to Kanade and grabbed her by the arm. The smaller girl looked at her in alarm, the fear from earlier returning with full force.

"Tell me what you saw," Homura wheezed. She probably looked crazy, and she felt like it too. "What did you see?"

Kanade stared back at her for a long while, eyes wide and irises shrunken, her tongue useless. Then her head fell to her chest and she stared at the tiles, hand shaking as she began to speak.

"The S-Sakura Church," She whispered. "When you defeated the Radix, and absorbed the power of twenty souls. The human body was never meant to house more than one. Holding twenty...it would have been suicide."

"I was unconscious for three days afterwards," Homura rasped. "I almost died."

"A miracle in itself," Kanade breathed, her breath hitching. God, she was starting to cry. "You should have died. Your Soul Gem...it is like a membrane. It was build to contain one soul. Stuffing in twenty...the boundaries will stretch. Even when you empty it, the cage has been stretched. There are holes. Holes for your soul to leak out of."

In her mind's eye, Homura saw a rubber cage, and inside the cage she saw her sou. Then twenty other lights darted into the container, stretching it, pushing its walls almost to bursting, and she was sure that the cage would snap and that she would die. But it didn't, and the souls left given time, but the walls of the cage were stretched beyond repair.

And as she watched, her own soul's like began to leak out, pouring through the enlarged gaps like liquid light.

There was nothing she could do to stop it.

"But the grief sharing," Homura insisted, voice reedy and weak. "It worked. I felt _better._"

"A cure that comes with a price," Kanade whispered, shuddering. "Grief sharing between two healthy Soul Gems...that is fine. But when one of you has a broken soul...the other will soon face the consequences. You can't house a broken soul and not become sick yourself. Pouring your own soul into hers so often...it will stretch her cage, too."

Homura fell onto her knees and elbows on the cold bathroom floor, eyes blown out as her breathing became erratic. No. It couldn't be true. So she was doomed after all? The only way to safe herself was to kill Kyouko in return? It was impossible. She couldn't kill Kyouko. She loved her. She would rather have to kill herself than do that. Why? _Why_ did it have to be this way? When would the universe be done destroying her? She didn't deserve this. None of them deserved this. She had been trying to save everyone by absorbing so much power, and now she was stuck here with holes in her fucking _soul-_

Homura suddenly went very still, and she stood up slowly, swaying in place before steadying herself, facing away from Kanade. The healer bit her thumb and watched the shield user apprehensibly, fearing the girl's mental instability.

Suddenly Homura whirled around and seized her by the collar, lifting her up and slamming her against the wall. Kanade gasped when the air was driven from her lungs, and she scrabbled at the girl's arm, but Homura did not relent, leaning forward and pinning the healer down with a deranged glare.

"Not a word of this to anyone," She hissed. "Not to Seiyaku, nor to Kyouko. If you do, you'll suffer the consequences. You might have heard the tales of Akemi Homura as a hero, but I assure there are more stories where I am the villain."

She let go of the girl's collar then, the healer falling to the floor coughing. Kanade scrambled to her feet and all but bolted out of the door, leaving it wide open in her haste. Homura stood still for a minute before walking after the girl, her body glowing weakly as her shield faded into dust.

* * *

><p>Kyouko eyed Homura from across the room, looking for an opening.<p>

She had known that something was up the minute the two of them had come back from the bathroom, Kanade's face stricken and pale while Homura's remained impossibly stony. Seiyaku had expressed her concern, and the healer had mumbled something about having an upset stomach. The faction leader looked skeptical, but did not press her partner any further.

The rest of their meal passed without incident. If Seiyaku realized something was wrong, she didn't let it on. They parted ways after paying, waving the older couple off as they headed off to see Mishki at her apartment. Homura had turned around and headed home as soon as Kanade disappeared around the corner, leaving Kyouko to hurriedly catch up to her.

When they got home, she didn't say a word. Kyouko hung back at the end of the room and watched her lover pace back and forth, muttering things to herself as she changed into looser clothes. Finally, she walked over and plucked the shirt Homura had been about to reach for out of reach, holding it above her head.

"Homura," Kyouko said, making sure she sounded serious.

Homura stopped reaching for the shirt and settled back, not looking at her. "What?"

Kyouko grit her teeth at the obvious evasion. "You know what. What happened with you and Kanade in the bathroom? Did you two fight or something?"

"No," Homura said bluntly, reaching up and finally snatching the shirt back. She turned away and shrugged it on, buttoning it up in silence. Kyouko watched her, waiting for more. She got none.

"Something obviously happened," Kyouko pressed, starting to feel irritated. "Otherwise you wouldn't be like this. You've been off all day, Homura. It isn't good to avoid talking about it like this. Hey, look at me."

She turned her partner around, placing one hand on the time traveler's chin to keep the girl's head still. Yet Homura still refused to look at her, eyes sliding off to the side in defiance.

"Tell me what's wrong," The redhead whispered. "I want to be there for you, Homura. I promised I would always be there for you. Let me follow up on my own words."

Homura still said nothing, instead glowering at the ceiling.

Kyouko frowned, hurt. "You aren't going to lie again, are you?" She asked, referring to their conversation on the platform.

The girl's eyes finally darted back to the redhead's. Lie? That was an option too. Even if she had promised not to do it again.

Because Homura knew that she could never, ever tell Kyouko what she had learned today.

Closing her eyes, she sighed slowly, feeling her heart grow weary.

"I'm fine, Kyouko," She muttered. "I'm okay. I promise."

Kyouko's gaze softened, but for some reason Homura knew that her lie had been caught yet again.

"I don't believe you," The redhead said softly, leaning forward to kiss her.

Homura sighed, melting easily into the embrace, but when Kyouko's hands began to slide up her shirt she remembered what Kanade had told her. If she continued to use grief sharing as a means of relief, she would only send her sickness unto the one she loved.

She couldn't let that happen.

Kyouko blinked when Homura forced a single hand between them, pushing them apart. Stepping back, Homura broke the embrace, eyes longing and melancholy.

"Homura?" She breathed, confused. "What's wrong?"

"I..." The raven haired girl began, but there was no way to end it. There couldn't be. "I'm sorry. But I can't," She whispered.

Then she turned and disappeared down the hall, closing the door behind her.

Kyouko turned and stared out the window, her mind going white as she struggled to understand what had gone wrong.

"Christ," She murmured.

A single tear rolled down her cheek. She angrily wiped it away.

It had been years since she had last cried.

* * *

><p><strong>Please forgive all the typos I probably missed, it is 3 in the morning as I type this. <strong>

**But hey, better late than never, right? I know it's been over a month since chapter 31 went up, but I've just been so busy with finals and AP's and SAT II's and all that good stuff…if you're American like me you probably understand my pain. **

**But rest assured, I genuinely plan to finish this story! Even if it takes years...**

**So, a lot of developments in this chapter. Tell me what you guys think.**

**And as always, thanks for reading!**

**~Banshee**


	33. Post-Halcyon

Chapter 33: Post-Halcyon

With all the unusual events that had been going on lately, it was hard to keep something like the end of the school year in mind, but it came nonetheless, like everything did.

Homura blinked in muted surprise when she saw the notice written on the board when she walked into class. A week later and she wouldn't be a high school student anymore. She most definitely wasn't going to college either, hadn't even given the possibility as second thought in her life. So in exactly seven days she would be done with her formal education. The thought disoriented her somewhat.

She should probably have been thinking about what kind of a job she was going to take up after graduating, but that had been the furthest thing from her mind as of late. Besides, with the abilities at her disposal, along with Kiku's ability to twist the fabric of reality, she was sure she could find some place to put food on the table. So she wasn't too worried about it.

What she _was_ worried about, however, was the situation regarding her soul. Granted, since it concerned her rather untimely death. Though when it came to magical girls, the concept of an early passing wasn't viewed as such a tragedy. One could die any time, any way, even in a city where there weren't any demons around.

Homura reached up and tugged at her collar, obviously disgruntled. She hadn't meant to put Kyouko off like that, but it had been necessary to ensure that the redhead would no longer be put in the path of danger. They hadn't...had each other in a week by now, and Homura had been unprepared for both the psychological and physical stress in put on the two of them.

It wasn't as if she absolutely _craved_ sex; she had simply settled into some sort of perverse routine over time, and suddenly going cold turkey wasn't doing her any benefits. But that was the least of her concerns. She and Kyouko had been less than comfortable around each other as of late; it was mostly her own fault, she knew, since the redhead was usually the one trying to reestablish some sort of connection. And while Homura didn't exactly shun her, she always avoided talking about what had happened between her and Kanade, and she never allowed their physical intimacy to extend pass the occasional holding of hands.

She was hurting Kyouko by shutting her out like this, she knew, but it was the girl's own good. Both their goods, really. This kind of treatment was sustainable if any sort of lasting peace was to be achieved, of course, but for now this was how things needed to be. In time, things would get better.

Homura closed her eyes and sighed, sinking deeper into her seat.

It felt like she'd been saying that forever.

* * *

><p>The graduation ceremony was held quietly and without incident. It was a brilliantly sunny early summer day, and the sakura trees were in full bloom as the third years walked up to accept their diplomas one by one. It was as stereotypical as a high school graduation could get, for which Homura was glad. She had had enough novelty in her life.<p>

It felt strange to graduate alongside both Mami and Kiku, whom Homura had considered to be her seniors for so long. A great number of boys wept when the two girls were called up by name, rueing the fact that Mitakihara High's two most attractive females would be leaving forever. Homura simply rolled her eyes at them.

Kyouko technically hadn't had grades satisfactory enough to allow for her unhindered graduation, seeing as she had stopped putting effort in at some point during the semester, not to mention that the redhead had never really taken school seriously. It had taken Kiku going in to the principal's office and..._suggesting_ that certain records be changed, so that the spear wielder may walk with the rest of them. Homura had quietly thought that if the illusionist was capable of pulling that off, keeping business going at their new establishment wasn't going to be much of a problem.

Her name was called out at last, and Akemi Homura rose to accept her graduation plaque. As her thin fingers grasped at the thick parchment, she looked the principal in the eye and thought that she just might miss this place. For better or worse, she had spent a good part of her life here, and all of her years as a magical girl within the walls of Mitakihara High. She had met Madoka here. There were good memories attached to this place, and bad ones too.

Smiling softly to herself, she bowed and said her thanks, then turned and walked away from her classmates forever.

* * *

><p>A few days later, Homura's hand grasped the front door knob when a low voice sounded from behind her.<p>

"Where're you going?"

Going still, she turned her head and met Kyouko's eyes. The redhead was lounging on the couch with her arms behind her head, staring back at the shield user intently. "Out."

"Out," The redhead echoed, rolling her eyes. "Out as in where?"

"Just...out. Does it matter?"

"Of course it matters," Kyouko snapped, slipping her hands from behind her head and sitting up on the couch. "What's been wrong with you lately? Is it something that I did? If it is, then tell me! How am I supposed to know what's wrong if you won't say anything? And now you're just heading off to places without telling me!"

Homura grit her teeth. If only this girl understood that she wasn't in a position that allowed her to be truthful. Why did Kyouko always have to make things so difficult?

"I don't have you tell you anything," She snapped back. It came out sounding harsher than she intended, but it was too late. She wasn't about to start eating her own words back up.

Kyouko flinched, then crossed her arms, her expression going stony and cold. "Fine. You gonna be that way? Fine. Do whatever you want. Fuck me and my feelings, I guess. You've always got to act like you're better than everyone else, don't you?"

Homura said nothing, even though Kyouko's words cut her like molten spears. She bit her lip and turned the knob, pushing the door open and slipping outside without saying a word.

As soon as the door closed, Kyouko swore under her breath and kicked the table, but she only succeeded in stubbing her toe. Yelping and grabbing at her foot, she sat back down on the couch and rubbed at her injury, muttering obscenities to herself. Homura always got like this. That girl always had to assume that she was the only one strong enough to carry all their burdens. She had been like that since the day they met, really, and it was evident that despite all the change the time traveler had gone through, that fundamental part of her personality remained the same.

"You've got all the time in the world, Homura..." Kyouko murmured, getting up and looking for her jacket. If her girlfriend was going to head off somewhere, so would she. Shrugging the teal colored jacket on and heading for the door, she all but kicked it aside before leaving.

"...but you never change."

* * *

><p>"Don't you think that the tables would look better if we put them <em>here<em>?"

"Just think about it, Kiku. The sun rises from the east, so in the middle of the day it'll be in their faces. You don't want them to be blinded when they look up, do you?"

"They won't _be_ looking up, Mami. They'll all have their faces buried in your awesome cooking."

"Oh, please."

The two of them were sitting on a big beanbag together in the living room, poring over a small map of the building that the two of them had bought. They had been bickering about where to place the furniture for a good hour by now, though the truth was that neither of them really cared about where they put the stuff; they just enjoyed arguing with each other, if that made any sense.

Kiku hummed as she browsed their list of options. Most of the legal stuff had already been dealt with; seeing as neither of them were old enough to really own a place, Junko would be acting as the technical holder of the restaurant. Kiku and Mami had had their fair share of papers to go through too, but that was one advantage of having all the time they did. Now all they had to do was plan, and argue over where to put the chairs.

She couldn't be happier.

Well, she could. There had been a small blemish in her life lately, and while Kiku was no stranger to having problems, she only noticed because it had never been an issue before. A deep frown cut into her lip as her finger paused on the paper, her thoughts causing her to lose focus on their current task.

"Mami," She said at last.

"Hmm?" The blonde shifted slightly to show that she was listening, though she kept her eyes on the paper. They were pressed firmly against each other in the center of the beanbag, but Mami wasn't saying anything about it, so Kiku resolved to do the same. Even if it was giving her an aneurism.

"Do you think..." The brunette paused again, wondering if her misgivings had any basis in actual fact. "Do you think Homura and Kyouko have been kind of distant lately?"

Mami flicked her eyes towards her friend, chewing her lip in thought. "Distant to us or to each other?"

"Each other. I don't know, it just feels that way, somehow. Like they had a fight or something. Do you know what I mean?"

The blonde let her head fall back and stared at the ceiling for a moment, pondering. "Well, now that you mention it, they have been acting a little uncomfortable around each other lately," She agreed, stroking her chin. Kiku rolled her eyes at the sight; it wasn't as if Mami had a full on beard to justify the action. "Do you think something happened between them?"

"Maybe," Kiku said, sighing as she sank deeper into the beanbag. "Homura and I have been tight lately, but that doesn't mean I know everything that goes on in her life. Homura doesn't tell me everything."

"I don't think she tells anyone _everything_," Mami mused. "She's the type to always be hiding something."

Kiku snorted. "Tell me about it."

They fell silent after that, staring blankly at the paper they were no longer interested in.

"So, what do you think she's hiding this time?" Mami asked softly.

Kiku closed her eyes. "I don't know. But whatever it is, it's hurting Kyouko too. I haven't seen her since the graduation ceremony, but last time we talked she looked...almost lost. Sad, even. Doesn't fit with her character, I know, but that's what it felt like."

"Homura is probably shutting her out of whatever the issue is," Mami replied, folding up the paper and tossing it onto the table. Raising her arms over her head, the blonde stretched luxuriously, and Kiku took a moment to shamelessly look the girl over. "I might understand her the least out of all of us, but I know that much about her. She never lets anyone help her."

"Well," The brunette said, crossing her legs, "Luckily Homura's more than capable of handling most of her problems."

Mami exhaled slowly as she gazed out the window. It was dark, for a summer day.

"Yeah," She agreed. "Most of them."

* * *

><p>Homura hadn't actually had a destination in mind when she left the house; she had only wanted to get the hell out of there before she lost her mind. Staying under that roof with Kyouko was driving her absolutely insane. Half of her knew that she had to maintain her distance, because if she wasn't going to bother explaining anything to her lover then her only option was to stay away. But the other half of her just wanted to say "fuck it" and go back to the way they had been before, quietly hoping that nothing would come out of it. And yet another half of her wanted to throw herself into the redhead's arms and bawl like there was no tomorrow, because she had no god forsaken idea of what she was going to do about this.<p>

Indeed, this was a race against time, but one where she didn't know the location of the finish line. Giving Kyouko the cold shoulder would buy her some amount of time, but for what? Time to come up with a plan? No matter how much she pondered on the subject, there was nothing she could do to cure herself of this malignant illness, this black infection that was dismantling her sanity piece by piece. Her soul was draining out of her body at this very moment, and there was no one in the universe who could possibly help her.

Homura stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and clutched at her chest, squeezing the fabric of her jacket into her fist as if she were trying to stop her heart from beating. It was demented, really, because if she were to close her eyes right now and let her mind empty itself she could pretend that everything was back to normal. It wasn't as if she could _feel_ her soul leaking out; she imagined that she would begin to feel the negative effects with time, but right now she felt fine. She could go back and apologize to Kyouko, go back to how they had been, and live a peaceful existence until she keeled over one day, in return for her delusions.

The shield user opened her eyes again, glancing around at the few passerby who were giving her weird looks. She began walking again, if only to stop sticking out like a sore thumb.

As shallow as the thought was, she hated Shizuki Kanade. If Seiyaku hadn't brought that girl along with her to Mitakihara, if she had never known Mishki or had even been born, maybe Homura would be able to walk down this street without thinking that each step might be her last. Maybe she wouldn't even be out here, because she would be at home instead, with Kyouko. That small happiness she had felt at the restaurant could have been forever. If only she didn't know.

Ignorance wasn't bliss. Ignorance was euphoria.

But that was stupid, she knew, because not knowing would mean killing Kyouko. As much as she hated this problem of hers, Homura would rather keep it for herself that place such a burden on the redhead's shoulders. Better her than Kyouko, or anyone else, for that matter.

There had been one time, days or weeks or months ago she could not recall, when Kyouko had murmured something to her that stuck within the deepest recesses of her brain. It had been night, and they had both been trying to catch some sleep when the redhead hugged her from behind and mumbled something Homura did not catch.

"What?" She asked, turning her head slightly, so that the redhead's breath tickled her ear. Kyouko craned her neck to be heard better.

"I said," She whispered, "That I think I'd die if I ever lost you."

Homura hadn't said anything in response. What sort of response could have satisfied a bombshell like that? She had simply kissed Kyouko's knuckles before falling asleep, and while the redhead probably didn't think anything of the words she had just said, Homura was thinking about it for the next morning and beyond. Because the thought that something might happen to one of them, the the cruel hand of fate would take one part of the whole, was all too real and present.

_I can't die,_ Homura realized, as she kicked a pebble into the river. She had been walking aimlessly and somehow ended up here, as if her body wanted to be swept away from everything by the sluggish waters. She couldn't die, she couldn't ever die, at least until Kyouko was dead, dead and buried and at peace forever within Madoka's loving embrace. Homura knew the pain of losing someone she loved more than anyone else, and the knowledge that she had the power to inflict that pain upon Kyouko was terrifying to her.

No, she couldn't ever die, because she had promised herself after Madoka's ascension that she would never fail to protect her friends again. It was the least she could do, after the goddess's sacrifice. A lifetime of protecting the world Madoka had chosen to save was to be her destiny, and the world and her friends were one and the same. There was no Mitakihara city with them, and there was no Akemi Homura without Sakura Kyouko.

So for her own sake as much as theirs, she could never die.

_What to do, then?_ Homura thought, skipping more stones across the water. _I'm already doomed to die. How can you reverse what's already been decided for you?_

She hurled her last stone into the river as if she could displace enough water to get an answer, but there was nothing to be had but a sore shoulder. Homura huffed as she stood straight, realizing that she was breathing harder than normal. It was always like this. Things would seem fine for a while, but then her life would spiral out of control yet again. It really did seem as if the universe was intent on destroying her. In all her years, she had never met another magical girl as unfortunate as her, but she took no pride nor sought any sympathy from it.

Taking in a deep breath, Homura craned her head back and groaned, long and slow, because the world was asking too much of her for the thousandth time. And for once, she had no answers.

Feeling her shoulders going slack, Homura forced herself to stand up and start walking.

Maybe Mishki would know.

* * *

><p>Homura hadn't actually seen Mishki since she had fallen asleep on the train, and subsequently left Mitakihara's safe borders. She felt a little guilty about neglecting the slightly older woman for so long, but she had had a lot on her mind recently.<p>

So a visit was long overdue, and Homura knew that Mishki could always be counted on to understand. The guide was one of the few people who seemed to had experienced more than herself, because nothing she ever heard seemed to faze her. Homura supposed that living in a city with a bunch of crazy magical girls could do that to a person. In any case, as she trudged through the city in search of Mishki's apartment she was hoping to find a quiet place to think.

Her expectations were abruptly dashed, however, when she tested the doorknob and found that it was unlocked. Frowning, Homura opened the door and peeked her head in, opening her mouth to say, "Hello-"

A terrific boom shook the walls of the apartment, rattling the door on its hinges. The door was slammed shut by the impact and caught Homura's head on the way, and the time traveler actually swore as she hit the floor, cradling her cranium in both hands. Looking up with tear filled eyes, she dragged herself all the way into the apartment before kicking the damn door closed.

Crawling back up to her feet, Homura continued rubbing at the sore spot on her head as she cocked an ear to listen. Mishki was yelling from somewhere in the kitchen, and there was a higher, younger sounding voice arguing back. Frowning, Homura made her way down the hall.

"Hello?" She called out again, straightening a few crooked pictures as she passed. She bent down and picked up a fallen box before reaching the door to the kitchen. "Mishki?"

"_I swear to the sweet lord, Four, I can't bolt everything in this house to the floor!"_

"_Stop acting like it was on purpose. You know I can't control it! At least nothing broke this time."_

_"__That's not the point, kid, okay?"_

"What's going on here?" Homura asked, pushing the kitchen door aside and striding in. Mishki started, looking up from the floor where she was crouching with her hands on Four's shoulders. Standing up quickly, the woman dusted her apron off before blowing her bangs out of her hair, offering up a smile that looked tired to Homura.

"Hey," The guide greeted her, throwing up a small wave. "Long time no see. Did you need something?"

Homura looked around the kitchen, and the dozens of miscellaneous items that had been thrown into the air before landing on the tiled floor. Mixers, bowls, utensils...there was a combat knife somewhere in there too, but she didn't plan to ask about that. She was carrying much worse in her own pockets, after all.

"What happened?" She asked instead of answering. "Did...did Four do it again?" The shield user realized, glancing down at the twin, who looked away with an irritated expression on her face.

Mishki exhaled slowly and let her head droop, reaching up to rub between her eyes. "Yes," She admitted. "I'm getting kind of tired of it, to be honest. The novelty rubbed off faster than I thought it would."

Homura blinked. "So it's been happening more often? Why?"

The guide just sighed again. "It's...kind of complicated," She confessed.

"No it isn't," Four scoffed. "You're saying that because you don't want to explain."

"Don't start with me," Mishki snapped back. "You're the reason why I have to start that soup from scratch again."

Homura stared at the child, her eyes narrowing. Was it just her, or did Four sound...older?

"Look, let's continue this in the hall," Mishk said, ushering Homura towards the door. "Four, I want you to start cleaning this mess up. I'll help you later," She called over her shoulder. The twin just grumbled something unintelligible before getting down to work.

Homura let herself be dragged out of the kitchen, until the two of them were standing in the center of the living room again. Mishki finally released her and took a brief step back, rubbing at tired eyes. She took another look around the room; all these bent picture frames were giving her OCD issues, but she tried to focus on the matter at hand.

"Where's Five?" She asked, as Mishki took a seat on the couch. Homura followed suit when she was gestured to do so, setting her coat on the arm of the chair.

"Taking a nap," Mishki said, sounding ragged. "Look, Homura...I don't know if you came at the best or worst time to see this. Four, she's..."

"What set it off this time?" Homura asked, leaning forward intently. Despite her priorities, it felt good to worry about someone else's problems for once.

The former guide pursed her lips at a memory. "I was making soup for dinner," She said, waving her hand vaguely. "Four wanted a glass of juice, but I told her to get it herself. She dropped the cup and broke it, and...well, the rest is obvious. I snapped at her, and maybe that scared her into doing this."

Homura eyed her friend. "Doesn't seem like something you'd get mad about. You're usually pretty patient with them, aren't you?"

"I try to be. I am," Mishki assured her. "I've just been stressed lately, is all. I haven't seen anyone else lately, and I've been dealing with a lot of stuff regarding the twins, especially Four..."

Homura let her eyes wander and take in the older girl's full appearance, noting the worn out eyes, the unhealthy complexion, the foot tapping almost nervously against the carpet. This woman was a few shades under the bright and peppy tease she was accustomed to.

"Mishki," She said at last, "What is going on?"

The other girl bit her lip, as if contemplating how much to tell her. Then she huffed and shook her head, as if dispelling as black cloud.

"It's Four. Like you said, she's been having more accidents lately. She can't seem to control it, the poor girl, and I keep getting complaints from the neighbors that they can't sleep or do whatever they're trying to do for all the shaking. The old lady on the floor below us thought we were having an earthquake the other day. And the twins, they're smart. They know the people around here aren't exactly happy with us, and they've feeling the stress of it too."

Homura stayed silent in order to let Mishki talk, not wanting to interrupt her. When the guide stopped she waited, but when none was forthcoming she reached across the couch and grasped the girl's hands in her own. She looked up, and they met eye to eye.

"But there's something else, isn't there?" She pressed, thinking back to Four, to the way she seemed to have changed, to the..._intelligence_ in those eyes where there had only been a childlike innocence before.

Mishki held her wobbly gaze for only a moment before drooping downwards. "Yes," She admitted, breathing deeply. "Yes, there is something else. Four, she's _changing_. I don't really know how to put it, but its like her mind is aging faster than her body. I didn't notice it at first, until she started telling me that school was getting a little too boring for her. A week later her teacher told me that she thinks the kid's a prodigy. She's three years ahead of her math level now."

Homura's eyes widened as she processed the information, inhaling sharply. "But that's..."

The guide shook her head. "I sort of figured it out when she started talking differently. Her vocabulary became too adult, too refined. She used to be such an obedient kid, but now she talks back every chance she gets. It's like I'm going through their teenage phase already. She sounds as old as me when we talk, and it's scaring her sister past her wits. It's freaking me out a little too, actually. The other kids are afraid of her, so she just spends all her time at home with me."

Homura sat back, taken aback by the revelation she had just been presented with. She chewed on her thumb in deep thought, turning her head to stare at the kitchen door, beyond which she knew the child herself was cleaning up the mess she had caused.

"Do you think it's linked to the increased frequency of her accidental magic?" She asked at last, keeping her eyes fixed on the door for some reason.

"It has to be. There's no other possible cause," Mishki said softly. "I don't know what to do, Homura. I was never cut out to raise kids or anything, but I assumed we could figure it out as we went along. But I wasn't ready for one of my kids to turn into a reverse Benjamin Button."

"And Five hasn't shown any similar signs at all?" Homura asked. "She hasn't shown any indication of magical ability?"

Mishki bit her lip. "None. Not even a broken spoon getting put back together. I feel the worst for her, Homura. She and her sister used to be inseparable, but now Four won't even bother with her. She's alone when I'm not around now, because the neighborhood kids often mistake Five for Four. But I can't blame Four either. She must think her sister is just a kid as much as you or I do."

Homura just shook her head, too overwhelmed by the unexpected discovery she had just walked right into. She remembered the day when Four had repaired her mug at her apartment, but since then the memory had faded into something to be considered later. She had never expected it to be much of a problem, but now she was seeing Mishki suffer so much and she couldn't help feeling partially responsible. This had all started under her own watch, after all.

"What do you think I should do, Homura?" Mishki asked, her voice cracking, and for a moment an incredible amount of veiled stress slipped through. The time traveler reached over and squeezed the girl's shoulder, disturbed to think that someone as steadfast as the guide was beginning to cave. "I've come to care about them so much, both of them, and I want Four to be happy. She's been so _dark_ lately, distancing herself from everyone, even me. I feel like she's confused, and hurting too. It can't be right, having a mind like that in a body so small. It must be painful for her. She's just trying to find herself, but she won't let me help her."

Homura patted the girl's back awkwardly, not really knowing that she was supposed to say. But she understood Mishki's pain; being unable to help someone you loved so much was the greatest wound a heart could sustain. She had felt it a thousand times with Madoka, and she imagined Kyouko was feeling it right now, with the way she was shutting the redhead out. Sometimes even your best wasn't enough.

Sometimes, there was no way to help the people you loved.

Except to sacrifice oneself, that is. There was a certain beauty to sacrifice, Homura thought, along with the love it brought. She might have neglected Mishki lately, but she still cherished the older girl's friendship. And seeing someone she respected brought this low wasn't good for her own health. So if she could shoulder some of Mishki's burden, she would.

"Hey. Look, I think you just need to take a short break," Homura suggested, shaking Mishki's shoulder. "When's the last time you spent any time away from both of the twins at once?"

The guide sucked in a shuddering breath before answering. "A couple weeks."

Homura sighed. "You need to take care of yourself too," She said, reaching up to ruffle Mishki's frazzled black locks. It was a strange gesture to make, seeing as the girl had a solid three years on her, but in that moment it felt right. "You need to buy ingredients to restart that soup, right? Let me watch the kids for a little bit, and you can take your time. I don't have anything better to do, anyway."

Mishki looked up and smiled at her, reaching up to squeeze the time traveler's hand in her own. "Thanks, Hom," She said, her gratitude evident. "You're actually a lot nicer than you look, aren't you?"

The younger girl smiled wanly in response. "I suppose. I've been told as much. Besides, I owe you a lot. For everything."

Mishki stood up from the couch, reaching behind her to undo her apron.

"Friends don't have to owe each other," She said, tossing the apron aside. "I'm sorry for unloading all my problems onto you."

Homura shook her head. "It's fine," She said. "It's...nice to be there for someone, I guess."

The guide smiled sadly when she heard that.

"If only we got to do that more often, huh?"

Then she was gone, the apartment door clicking softly shut behind her.

Homura took a long, deep breath, trying to regain her bearings. She had left the house an hour ago with no purpose, and now she was tasked with babysitting one kid and her mental sister.

Rising from the couch herself, Homura made her way back to the kitchen, gently pushing the door aside.

Four was still busy cleaning up her mess, the child's small hands working busily as she picked fallen pots and pans off the floor. Homura stood and watched her work for a moment, thinking that as it looked now, the kid looked like any other.

Then she paused and looked up, and Homura gulped when they made eye contact. Mishki was right. Seeing the mature understanding behind those eyes was unsettling at the very least.

"Where's Mishki?" She asked, letting her hands go still.

"Out to get some ingredients," Homura replied, keeping a hand on the door. She scanned the remaining mess. "You think you can finish this all on your own?"

The twin huffed and sat on the floor, crossing her short legs. "Couldn't you pop out that nifty time magic of yours and get this done real quick?"

Homura felt her eye twitch at being addressed as an equal by someone so obviously small, and for a moment she felt Mishki's earlier irritation. Then she thought about her answer to that particular question and stilled, feeling her heart depress.

"While I'd love to," She replied drily, "I can't."

"Why not?"

"I'm...sick." It was excessively vague, but she wasn't exactly lying. She was suffering from some insanely malignant illness.

Four's gaze lingered on her for a while, and for a second Homura thought she saw sympathy lurking behind those young irises. "Do I really have to do all this in one go?"

Homura smiled and turned away from the door, leaving it open as she reentered the kitchen. "No, you can take a break. Have a drink, or something. I don't know how Mishki would have run things around here, but I'll help you after you have a breather."

Four got to her feet and stretched, popping her knuckles one by one. It was a gesture usually associated with older people, teenagers at least, and Homura felt herself averting her gaze. "Finally, someone who doesn't talk to me like I'm still in my diaper."

"That just means I expect that much more from you," Homura replied bluntly.

"Ooh, scary."

"Hmph."

* * *

><p>Kyouko tapped her foot impatiently, staring angrily at the door in front of her nose.<p>

She had knocked twice already, but whoever was on the other side of the door, assuming anyone was present at all, apparently hadn't heard her. Though it was entirely possible that the apartment was simply empty, she knew Mami and Kiku's habits by now. They _should_ be home.

She heard what sounded like a muffled squeal from inside the building, and she rolled her eyes. While she didn't want to intrude on any chances Kiku might have of making a move on Mami, she didn't really appreciate being ignored like this, either. Digging around in the deep pockets, the redhead produced a small key and shoved it into the door knob, twisting it around until she heard a satisfying click that told her she was in.

Kicking the door aside, she slouched forward and stalked into the apartment. The muffled squeals were now fully audible now that there was nothing blocking the sound waves, and she followed them to their source. Really, how rude was it to leave someone waiting outside your door for that long?

She just really hoped she wouldn't walk in on them having sex or something.

Kyouko turned the corner and immediately spotted the two friends, occupying a big beanbag together in the center of the living room. The beanbag was thrashing around quite a lot, probably because the girls using it were currently engaged in a wild tickling match.

"Aiee! Kiku, I _told_ you not to touch me there-ah!" Mami yelped loudly when the brunette ignored her and attacked said spot, causing a small flood of giggles to escape the blonde's lips. Kiku snickered as she continued to dominate her friend, tickling her into submission from her position above the blonde.

"You're too easy, Mami. Don't you know how to defend yourself?" She teased, before looking up and seeing Kyouko staring bemusedly at the two of them. Kiku immediately went completely red in the face and all but bounded off the beanbag, tripping over herself and falling to the hardwood floor with a painful thud.

"Kiku, are you okay? Why...oh," Mami said dumbly, tilting her head backwards until she saw Kyouko. She blushed modestly and readjusted her clothing, hiding some things that had come a little loose during their little tussle. "Why, hello there, Kyouko. I hope you've been well?"

"Just fine," The redhead scoffed. "But I see you're doing even better."

Mami flushed deeper. "Ah...yes, well, one thing led to another, you see, and..."

"Jeez, leave it up to you to ruin the moment," Kiku grumbled from her spot on the floor.

"Well, I did knock twice," Kyouko shot back. "It's your own fault, really."

"Point taken," The brunette replied blandly, getting up and rubbing her head. "So, what's up? Need something?"

"Ah..." Kyouko trailed off into a silence, coming to the realization that she had no actual reason to be here. She had just let her feet do whatever they wanted, and they had ended up in front of this apartment. She couldn't really blame them. There was nowhere else she really could have gone. "Just dropping by to say hi, I guess?"

"Uh huh..." Kiku eyed her carefully, and Kyouko actually squirmed under her probing gaze. "Well, we appreciate it. Is there anything you wanted to do?"

"Uhhh..." Kyouko flailed momentarily, since she was making this all up on the fly. "Take a walk, maybe?"

Kiku raised her eyebrows at the suggestion, and the redhead had to agree that it was a little tame, for her. "Well...sure, I don't see why not. Mami, are you down?"

"No, you two can go on ahead," The blonde said, climbing out of the beanbag. "Someone has to take care of all this paperwork, right?"

"Oh, right, the paperwork," Kiku cursed. "We could finish that up first-"

"It's fine, Kiku," Mami interrupted her, squeezing the girl's shoulder. "I can take care of it on my own. You and Kyouko go have fun, okay?"

[_Besides, whatever it is that's bothering her, I think you'll do a better job of getting it out of her system,_] The blonde added telepathically.

Kiku blinked back. [_Maybe._]

"So...we going?" Kyouko shifted impatiently, making it painfully obvious that something was really needling her. Kiku offered her a reassuring smile and walked towards her room to grab a coat, leaving the redhead alone with her longtime blonde friend.

"How's Homura lately?" Mami asked her, more as a test than anything else. The spear wielder blinked and seemed to go blank for a moment, and the blonde frowned.

"She's fine," Kyouko said at last, letting her eyes drift passively away from her. Mami narrowed her own and pursed her lips.

"That so?"

"Yeah, she's fine," Kyouko repeated, as if to reassure herself. "We're all fine, aren't we?"

The two of them left the apartment and made their way down to a quieter part of the city. Kiku watched Kyouko from behind the entire time, gauging the girl's psyche as best she could, and so the better part of their walk was spent in complete silence.

Kiku took in the redhead's furrowed brows, the tense way in which she walked. Something was definitely wrong with her. As time went by, this seemed more and more likely that the problem had something to do with Homura. But she knew Kyouko wasn't the time to open up under any sort of prodding, so she deigned to wait until the girl was ready to talk about it on her own.

They walked until they reached one of the wide channels that wound their way through the edges of Mitakihara, its calm waters shimmering quietly beneath the setting sun. Kyouko leapt off the sidewalk and landed on the railing that separated the road from the steep slope leading down into the channel, balancing on the steel beam with practiced deftness. Kiku just took a seat on the railing beside her, hiding her hands in her coat pockets as she waited.

Kyouko stood watching the water for a long time, and for a moment she thought she saw a small stone floating by in the current. The sight amused her for a moment, but then she wondered if Homura had thrown that stone, and the small smile melted off her face.

"Kinda cold for summer, don't you think?" She said at last, regretting the words as soon as they left her mouth. It was stupid of her to beat around the bush.

But Kiku didn't call her on it. "Yeah, it's a bit chilly," She agreed, rubbing at her arms to lend validity to the statement. Kyouko only nodded vaguely before going back to glaring at the water.

"What's wrong, Kyouko?" Kiku asked at last, deciding that she wasn't going to wait forever. "Something's bugging you, right? I can see it all over your face. Did you and Homura have a fight?"

The redhead blanched, and Kiku knew immediately that her guess was spot on.

"We didn't have a huge argument or anything," She muttered in response, kicking at the steel railing. "She just...never lets me help her."

Kiku absorbed the words carefully. "What do you mean?"

"Something's wrong with her again," Kyouko elaborated, her voice growing more irritated as she continued speaking. "It's probably related to that soul thing she was dealing with, but I can't know for sure because she won't talk to me. She's shutting me out."

_Soul thing? Oh, right. There was something about that,_ Kiku remembered, thinking back to her little rescue mission. To be honest, neither she nor Mami were very clear on the mysterious ailment Homura seemed to be suffering from. The mysterious girl had never deigned to explain it to them, and instinct told Kiku that she wouldn't cave under inquiry. She supposed the fact that she didn't know much about it was intended. Homura was nothing if not good at keeping secrets.

"I'm sure she isn't doing it because she wants to," Kiku replied, crossing her legs. She leaned back on her hands, shivering when her palms touched the cold railing. "I'm sure she wants to talk about it as much as you do."

"Then why doesn't she?" Kyouko grumbled loudly, stomping on the railing again. It rattled beneath Kiku, and the brunette shifted nervously. "I promised her, you know, that I would do everything in my power to make her happy. But how am I supposed to do that when she won't _tell_ me anything? Homura's as nice as the next person when there's nothing to worry about, but the second shit hits the fan she closes herself off from everybody, even me. I feel like she doesn't trust me enough to tell me the really important things, and I know it's stupid and mushy or whatever, but that _hurts."_

It occurred to Kyouko that she was practically yelling at this point, and she briefly hoped that no one was within earshot. She balled her fists up and resisted the urge to punch something as Kiku sat quietly beside her. It didn't make sense; why was this making her feel so _angry_?

Kiku exhaled slowly through her nose, feeling like have a cigarette between her fingers right now would have been pretty appropriate, which was a strange thought to have, seeing as she had never so much as touched one before.

"I don't know Homura as well as you do," She said, tapping her fingers against the steel. "No one does, really. But coming from me, I feel like Homura's the kind of person to always rely on herself first and others second. Even you." She eyed Kyouko for a moment, checking the girl's reaction. The redhead remained stone faced. "She's never told me all the details of her past, but I've heard enough to know that she's been alone for the better part of her life. Doing things on her own is her prerogative."

"But I've been alone for a long time too," Kyouko shot back. "I grew up fending for myself on the streets. And I'm still able to ask other people for help, if I really need it."

"But your solitude was self instilled, wasn't it?" Kiku wondered aloud, not knowing if she was overstepping her bounds or not. She hadn't heard Kyouko's story from the redhead's own mouth, after all; she had picked it up along the way in Kazamino. "You ran away from people because you were afraid of letting them down again. Maybe Homura is the opposite. Maybe she's the one getting let down by other people."

Kyouko stared down at her, eyes smoldering with something that was both like and unlike anger.

"I've never let her down," She replied softly.

Kiku gazed back up at her. "I know," She said, just as quietly. "It was just a thought. I never said I knew."

Kyouko blinked thoughtfully, and Kiku saw in those eyes the kind of tiredness that built up over days and months and years, not a few short hours. The redhead's anger didn't just originate from this incident alone; it was the accumulation of dozens of instances, countless times where Homura had chosen to hurt the ones closest to her in order to solve things on her own. Perhaps Kyouko didn't know it herself, but Kiku saw this because she knew, she had felt that same build up of exhaustion in her own soul with Mami. Not all problems could be solved through your own hands, though. If only Homura knew that. If only they all knew that, because trying to change the way someone else treated you had never been a good experience for Kiku.

Usually the best thing to do was try and forget about it.

She heard distance voices in the background, and turned her head to see a small building nestled across the street, its bright orange lights burning intensely against the night. It was a bar, one of those adult places that popped up by the water. There was almost no one in the street with them, but the bar sounded full of people, as if they were holding a party there.

Kiku wasn't really a fan of feeding bad habits, one of which she knew Kyouko had, but maybe she could make an exception just this one time.

"Hey, come on," She said abruptly, grabbing Kyouko's hand and pulling her across the street. The redhead stumbled off the railing and barely managed to catch herself, Kiku was pulling her so hard.

"Hey, wait! What are you-"

Then she saw the bar across the street and stopped, prompting the illusionist to look back at her. "Oh...no way."

Kiku smirked back at her, raising an eyebrow in challenge. "What, you don't want to?"

Kyouko shook her head and actually chuckled, unconsciously putting a hand to her stomach. "Hell yeah I want to. But...I don't know. It's been a while. Plus Homura doesn't like it."

Kiku hummed thoughtfully. "Well, then Homura doesn't have to know," She said simply. The redhead raised her eyebrows as the brunette continued pulling them across the street. "Quick, do you have your school ID on you?"

"Yeah, I do," Kyouko said, still not able to believe that they were actually doing this. She fished the small card out of her pocket and waved it in the air.

"Good. Keep that with you."

They made their way onto the adjacent sidewalk and to the door of the bar, and from this proximity Kyouko could smell the scent of alcohol. And she had to admit, it was making her yearn a little bit. Just a little.

Kiku pushed open the door, and the two of them slipped inside.

The interior of the bar had only low lighting, and the hum of general chatter filled the air as Kiku wove her way through the crowd. Kyouko kept pace with her, making sure the scan the room once before proceeding. She knew from experience that assholes tended to congregate at places like this. She had gotten into more than one fight that resulted in her getting kicked out of an establishment, and didn't feel like revisiting the experience with Kiku. Luckily, the customers here seemed pretty docile.

She squeezed past a few more people and finally made it to the bar itself, where Kiku was busy talking to the bartender. She vaguely hoped the brunette had an actual plan up her sleeve.

"Two drinks for me and my friend here?" The illusionist said, gesturing at Kyouko when she walked up from behind.

The bartender, a short, portly man, eyed them both dubiously. "ID?"

Kiku let out an exaggerated sigh. "Yeah, they always gotta ask," She muttered dramatically. She plucked Kyouko's school ID from the girl's hand and showed it to the bartender along with her own. The redhead stared in shock. This girl wasn't dumb enough to think that a stupid school ID was enough to get them some beer, right?

The portly man seemed to squint at the cards for a moment, then gave a small shrug. "Okay, just had to check. Part of the job, you know?" He placed an empty glass away and walked closer to the bar. "So, what'll it be?"

Kyouko gaped as Kiku took a seat on one of the bar's many stools, placing both elbows on the worn wood. "I'll just let my friend chose for both of us."

[_You sly bastard, you enchanted the cards, didn't you?_] Kyouko asked as she slipped into her own stool beside the girl. Kiku just winked back.

[_This is just a one time thing, Kyouko. Don't get used to it. Just...try to relax a little, okay?_]

Kyouko eyed her friend for a moment longer, then turned her attention to the bartender, who was still waiting for an order. Well, if this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, she might as well get the most out of it.

Flashing her most confident grin and leaning across the bar, Kyouko tapped the wood and said, "Gimme the hardest shit you've got, mister."

The bartender rolled his eyes as Kiku smothered a laugh.

"Fine. But don't blame me if you end up blacking out. I hate it when people do that."

* * *

><p>"Any reason why you're looking at me like that?"<p>

Homura blinked, mentally snapping herself out of her reverie. She had been staring at Four's face without realizing it for a while now, and the twin had finally grown a little tired of it.

"No reason," She replied honestly, readjusting herself. "It just happened."

"Hmm." Four munched aggressively on the cookie she had found for herself. "At least you didn't try to make a dumb excuse."

"Why, who does?"

"Mishki. A lot."

"Oh."

Despite the novelty that colored her life, Homura had to think that this was one of the more surreal experiences she had ever confronted. The two of them were sitting on the veranda of the apartment, the door closed behind them so that any conversation wouldn't accidentally awaken Five. She hadn't exactly planned on keeping the child company like this, but she had looked so forlorn sitting outside and munching on her cookie by herself.

"Do you mind?" Homura had asked, walking through the sliding door and taking a seat by the twin.

Four rolled her eyes and just kept chewing. "Suit yourself."

They had made minimal conversation after that brief exchange, but it didn't lessen the notion that Homura was meeting a completely different person for the first time. Four had changed so drastically in the time she had been away from them, and coming back to a kid who suddenly talked like not three weeks, but ten years had passed was more than a little disorienting.

It was a little weird, certainly, but Homura was no stranger to the mysteries of magic. Even the Incubators couldn't fully grasp it. So she felt no fear. After all, there were worse things out there.

"So, um...how's life?" Homura said abruptly, seeking to make some conversation. Four just stared blankly back at her, and even she had to admit that it was a paltry effort. "Mishki told me everything that's been going on lately. Can't say I envy you."

Four snorted and swallowed the last of her food. "You shouldn't. The human brain was never meant to mature at this rate. I feel utterly misplaced in this body."

Goddess above, if she were to close her eyes she would have no trouble pretending that she was talking to one of her old teachers. Homura shook her head to dispel the notion before continuing. "How are you feeling?"

Four rolled her eyes again. "It doesn't _hurt_, if that's what you're wondering. Mishki is convinced that I'm under some sort of perpetual agony. I'm just...imbalanced, is all. I feel no pain, despite the unnatural changes in my psyche. But I can't say it's been an entirely comfortable experience either."

"Anything involving magic is likely to be unpleasant," Homura agreed blandly, leaning back against the wall. The child eyed her quietly. She was trying her best to handle the situation with poise, and hoped that Four wasn't yet smart enough to see that she was actually very disturbed by this entire conversation.

"You know, Akemi-san," Four said, wiping at her small mouth with a napkin, "I've always thought that you were a little different than the others. Your friends, I mean. Sakura-san and the rest of them. The look in your eyes, maybe."

"You can just call me Homura," The time traveler said, smiling reassuringly. Four just shrugged indifferently.

"Fine, Homura. But as I was saying, I'm glad that we have a chance to talk like this." She paused, as if calculating her next statement. It was a chillingly adult move. "I'm glad, because I wanted an opportunity to ask you some questions."

"Questions?" Homura echoed, juggling a can of soda around in her hands. She didn't even drink soda, hated the stuff actually, but it had been the first thing she saw when she opened the fridge. It didn't feel natural to come out here with nothing to occupy her mouth when she wasn't talking.

Four grunted in affirmation, crossing her thin arms.

"As you might imagine, I have quite a number of questions regarding my situation," She explained. "But Mishki absolutely refuses to have a constructive conversation about it, and my..._sister_ is less than capable of acting as a substitute. As a result, I have been in the dark about what I am exactly, and I would like some answers."

Homura watched her as she talked, taking in the girl's features. Four was small, just barely came up to Homura's own elbow, and she wasn't even that tall herself. The child had a small, thoughtful face, and long strands of black hair that fell to her shoulders. Everything about her looked as young as she was, really, but it was the eyes that betrayed her secret. A shrewdness in them, a dark understanding that surpassed her years.

_She's like a miniature version of me_, Homura realized, thinking that it was actually a rather apt comparison. Disturbed by the thought, she popped the soda can open and took a swig. _Bleh._ This carbonated stuff was horrid.

"I can't say that Mishki would be terribly happy if I went against her wishes," Homura reminded, clearing her throat to get rid of the taste. "As irritating as you might find it, she's only being like that because she cares. She probably sees no gain in teaching you about the world she and I come from."

Four stared at her for a long moment, and Homura felt vaguely afraid that she had somehow angered the child.

"I'm not asking for Mishki's opinion," She said at last, tapping her small foot against the concrete. "I'm asking what _you _think."

Homura sighed, staring into the tiny hole in the top of the aluminum can.

"I think you have the right to understand your origins," She said at last. "As good as Mishki's intentions are, she can't control you forever, and it's best that you hear it from one of us rather than having to figure it all out for yourself. It's a cold world out there."

Four sat back and crossed her arms, looking pleased with herself. Homura felt strangely like she had just lost some mental joust.

"Alright, then. I'm all ears," The twin declared.

Homura started dubiously back. "You haven't asked me anything yet."

_I'm sorry, Mishki,_ she added to herself. Hopefully nothing would come of this.

"Okay," Four allowed, closing her eyes. "First of all, I want your assessment of what you think I am, exactly. What caused this, things like that. I have my own theories, of course, but I'm interested to hear your perspective."

Homura pursed her lips. "You know, talking to you is like diving straight into the bottom of the Twilight Zone."

"Ooh, great show. Fascinating. It scares Five, though, so I usually can't watch it when she's around. The child needs to grow a spine."

_She's the same age as you, you know,_ Homura thought drily. Clearing her throat, she set her soda can down before thinking about how she wanted to approach this. "Teaching" someone about magic wasn't something that she had ever seen done before. One generally figured things out for herself.

"Before I start, I'm going to assume you already understand the basics of how magic girls are contracted," She began. "You understand everything about the Incubators, the contracts, and soul tainting?"

"Yes," Four nodded. "But only the straight facts, of course."

"Okay," Homura said, nodding slowly back. "Okay." How was she supposed to handle this? She didn't have a clear idea of what was going on in this child's body herself, yet here she was giving a science lesson. If magic could even be described as a science, anyway. She didn't want to give this child any strange ideas.

"The thing about magic," She started slowly, "Is that it is extremely unpredictable. Even the Incubators, the ones who brought said magic to our race, don't have a solid understanding of its true nature. As such, you get numerous cases where anomalies can occur. You witnessed one in the form of the Radix, and if you've ever heard Kiku's origin story, you know that she should have died immediately after making her wish. It follows that you are one of those anomalies."

Four stared down at her own hands. "So you're saying this is...somewhat normal?"

"Well...not exactly," Homura admitted, grasping her hands together. "You see, the examples I gave had some sort of precedence. Radixes have existed for centuries, and puella magi have always thwarted death. But you...I've never seen, or even heard of a girl being contracted at such a young age. I had assumed it was impossible, actually, since the Incubators draw their power from the emotions of teenaged girls. Seiyaku found you and your sister after you had already contracted, and she told me neither of you had any memory of how it happened. Is that true?"

Four smiled bitterly at the ground. "Believe me, I've spent literal hours trying to recall something, some memory, even a sensation," She murmured. "Nothing. I've asked Five, and from what I gather, she doesn't remember either. It drives me insane just thinking about it."

"It isn't a big deal. I was just only asking," Homura assured her, even as she internally thought that it kind of was important. But there was no use in putting undue stress on Four.

"So you really have no idea what's going on with me?" Four asked, looking up at her.

Homura hummed to herself. "I can't compare you to anyone else I've ever met, but I have some ideas." She gave the twin a look before continuing. "Magic usually tends to enhance the human body; I'm sure you know by now that any one of us could fall off this balcony and live to tell about it. The magic in your body might be affecting your psyche in a similar way. Accelerated mental growth may be a side effect of your abilities."

"And the magic itself?" Four pressed, leaning forward so that her bony shoulders protruded. "All I can do is fix things. Where does that fit in?"

"Well, it's obviously linked to your wish in some way," Homura said. "But seeing as you can't remember it, it's hard to say what it was exactly. Perhaps a desire to recover something, or mend something that normally couldn't be repaired. I've seen variants of your magic in the past; it isn't exactly unique."

Four went silent as she digested the information, and Homura took the chance to think more deeply on the subject. There was a good chance her personal hypothesis were correct, given her vast experience with various types of magic. But one question still remained, and that was what had caused this to begin in the first place. Surely there had to be some sort of catalyst, the flame that set off this chain reaction. Why Four and not Five? Why now?

"I have more questions, but I'll hold onto them for now. Mishki will be back soon," Four said, drawing Homura's attention back to her. "But I'd like to ask one last thing."

"Anything."

The twin smiled. "That's a dangerous thing to promise."

"Don't lecture me, child. Say what you need to say."

Four's brief smirk drifted from her face, and she stared down at her arms once more. She looked markedly vulnerable in that brief moment, and Homura felt a pang of sympathy for her. She knew what it felt like to be the lone anomaly. The one with all the problems she had never asked for.

"Is there...any way to control my magic?" The child asked at last, clenching her fists almost angrily. "It...I keep losing control of it. It just comes out of nowhere, I'm not even thinking about it, but then something happens and we need to clean up the entire kitchen again. Mishki gets upset every time, and it scares Five. For their sake as much as mine, I want to find a way to control this."

Homura smiled inwardly. So it seemed that Four cared, after all. She was just bad at showing it. Yet another sentiment she could relate to.

"I can't say I have a concrete answer to your problem," She said. "Most magical girls have a natural grasp of their own abilities after contracting, and even the small minority will become adept with time. It is likely that the immaturity of your body is making it difficult to control your magic."

Four gritted her teeth and slammed her fist against the sliding door, making it rattle loudly. Homura hoped that hadn't just woken Five up.

"I hate this. I hate not being able to control it," Four growled. "Everyone at school treats me like an alien, and Mishki is wary around me, too. She thinks I don't notice, but I see all of it. I feel like I've got some taboo sickness that nobody understands. Being unable to control your own body is a curse in itself."

"Ain't that the truth," Homura murmured, quoting something Kyouko often said. Thinking about the redhead sent a painful stab through her heart.

Four looked up at her through her lashes, fists still clenched.

"You said you were sick too, earlier," The twin remembered. Homura closed her eyes and smiled in recognition. "What did you mean?"

It was stupid, she knew, but for a moment Homura considered letting her barriers down and telling Four everything. About the sickness, her soul, Shizuki Kanade, all of it. It was like that spellbound moment when a stranger asked how you were doing, out of nothing more than common courtesy, and for one terrifying second you felt like unloading all your problems onto them. It would be terribly irresponsible of her, but who else could she tell, if not a mentally warped child with magic issues?

"Can you keep a secret?" Homura asked, turning her head and staring hard at the twin, making sure that the flint in her eyes was clear to see. She wanted to make it clear that she wasn't someone that the kid could cross.

Four blinked at the intensity of her gaze. "Better than most," She responded softly. "People never listen to me, anyway."

"Hmm." Homura went back to staring at her soda can, thinking that she might not tell the story after all. It wasn't as if she gained anything from telling Four anything. It would just make her more depressed from thinking about it.

But there was also the unshakeable notion that this child, this little kid who barely came up to her elbow, would understand her. Something in the girl's natural cynicism, something about what she was, the way the universe had mistreated her.

They had both suffered the same injustice.

"During the battle at the Sakura Church," She began, causing Four to look up, "I made a desperate gamble in order to destroy the Radix. I absorbed over twenty souls into my own body, and used them to fuel the strongest attack I could muster."

"Mishki told us the story," Four recalled. "Five thinks it's a fairy tale, or something."

"That one arrow didn't come without its consequences," Homura continued. "Holding so many souls at once stretched the barriers of my Soul Gem, leaving holes where there previously were none. So now my soul is slowly leaking out of my own body, and it's making me weaker every day. Eventually my strength with fail, and my body will shut itself down. Essentially, I'm going to die."

She paused for a moment, wondering if that had been a little too harsh of a thing to say to a ten year old, or however old Four was. No one knew the exact number, to be honest. Turning her head, she checked the child's reaction.

Four was staring back at her in wonder, a small cookie crumb still stuck to the corner of her mouth. Finally she blinked and looked away.

"That's...pretty heavy," She said at last.

Homura smiled regretfully. "Yeah. Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have just said it like that."

"No, no, it's fine," Four said, flapping her hand between them. "It's refreshing, honestly. Your frankness, I mean. Not the dying part, obviously. That sounds terrible."

Homura was surprised to find herself actually laughing at the child's words. It was the darkest of black humor, and it was even more messed up hearing it from Four's mouth, but it was the truth. She was going to die. After countless battles and life's greatest trials, she was going to die, and it wasn't even from something she could shoot with a gun.

"I guess you and I are more alike than I thought," Four continued, waving vaguely between the two of them. "We're both victims of fate."

Homura chuckled briefly through her nose. "I suppose you could say that." She took another reluctant sip from her soda as she stared out over the horizon, at the sun slowly being sucked below the skyline. "If only you could just use your magic to fix my broken mess of a life..."

Four laughed drily. "If only."

That was the moment, really. The terrible, pivotal moment where everything changed forever. Homura would look back later and wonder how things might have changed had she never said those words, but the truth was that she had, and the consequences were nothing short of titanic.

For in that terrible, pivotal moment, a terrifying idea bred itself within the depths of Homura's mind. It was crazy, insane, impossible even. She was scared of herself for even thinking of it. But she had always been the kind of person to resort to the high risk, high reward plans. It was the only way to get what she wanted, in a world where everything had turned against her.

"Four," Homura said aloud, and the twin turned to look at her. "Do you want me to teach you how to control your magic?"

The child's eyes went wide immediately. "You can do that?"

"I can try," Homura amended, not wanting to make any rash promises. "I've seen all kinds of magic, and I have plenty of people I could consult. I think if we both put our heads together, we can come up with some logical solution. There has to be some way to control your magic."

Four's mouth opened and closed briefly, as if she were chewing air. "And you would do that for me?" She asked, sounding awed by the very idea. She leaned forward on both hands, the eagerness evident on her face.

"I would," Homura said, swiveling her head and meeting the girl's gaze. Four was taken aback by the intense fire she found there. "I can cure your sickness."

Reaching out, she grabbed the twin's hand and squeezed it tightly in her own, as if she were the line between heaven and hell.

"But in return, I want you to cure mine."

* * *

><p>Kiku had been prepared to deal with the possibility of a drunk Kyouko when she dragged the girl into the bar with her, but this...<p>

...this was a little excessive.

A loud clack rang through the air as an intoxicated Kyouko slammed her glass down on the bar, so hard that Kiku feared for a moment than the thing would shatter. A couple of men on the other side of the bar threw them some annoyed looks, and the brunette did her best to appear apologetic.

"Damn Homura," The redhead muttered, reaching for the bottle and pouring herself another shot. "Damn Homura and her stupid little secrets...if she would just tell me..." She continued grumbling as she tilted her head back and downed another glass of...well, to be honest Kiku had no idea what the spear wielder was chugging down her throat. Probably something horribly bad for the liver.

"I'm sure she'll get around to it," Kiku assured her, taking a conservative sip from her own cup. She had been brazen enough to order her own cup of beer at first, but upon tasting it she found that the drink was horrid. It was sour and it burned at her throat. Pursing her lips, she had ordered a class of lemonade instead. The bartender had given her a bemused look that she tried her best to ignore.

"It's not just this time!" Kyouko all but shouted, slamming her fists on the bar. Her entire head was red from the neck up, giving her entire body a vaguely ruddy glow. The brunette suspected that the redness didn't stop with the girl's shirt collar. She was so red that it almost blended with her hair. "She's always trying to do shit by herself! What about me? What am I, chopped liver?"

"There's no shame in that. I love chopped liver," Kiku said. It was a little mean to mess with the redhead in her intoxicated state, but she couldn't resist.

"I HATE CHOPPED LIVER!" Kyouko bellowed, rocking back and forth so that her stool scraped loudly against the floor.

One of the men on the other side of the bar, a tall, skinny individual with sharp eyes, glared hard at the redhead from behind his glass. Kiku eyed him a little nervously before trying to calm her friend down.

"Okay, okay, fine. Chopped liver is terrible. How many drinks have you had, anyway?" Kiku grumbled, grabbing Kyouko by the shoulders and forcing her to sit still. The bar was littered with empty glasses. "It's okay to be mad, but don't make such a ruckus."

"Hmph." Kyouko stirred her drink absently with one hand, swaying back and forth in her seat. She really was drunk. "Fuckin' shitty, that chopped liver shit..."

Kiku rolled her eyes. "You know, I figured you as someone who was better at holding her liquor."

"It's been a while," Kyouko slurred back, her eyes drooping vaguely. "Cause Homura. Always fuckin' Homura."

"Maybe she's just allergic," Kiku guessed, sipping at her lemonade.

"She's not allergic to beer! She's allergic to pineapples!" Kyouko snapped back, her voice shooting clear across the room. Kiku flinched as that same skinny guy threw daggers with his eyes, the irritation clear on his face. Despite that, another group of men chuckled to themselves from a table behind her. She turned around and looked at them; they mostly looked amused by the spectacle.

Kyouko reached for the bottle to pour herself another glass, but paused when she realized the bottle was empty. Her brow furrowing, she waved the bottle around in the air and yelled, "HEY! We're out here!"

The bartender sighed and reached beneath the bar, "Yeah, I'm on it..."

"Oi!" A shrill voice hit them from across the room, and somehow Kiku immediately knew that it was the skinny guy. "Would ya shut the fuck up for a minute?"

_Oh, boy,_ the brunette sighed internally. _Here we go._

The entire bar went quiet, making it obvious that all the customers present had sensed a confrontation broiling for a while now. Kiku shivered when she felt a dozen eyes on the two of them at once.

_"_Kyouko," She said softly, "Just stay calm-"

"Who the fuck said that?!" The redhead bellowed, and suddenly she and the guy were chest to chest, screaming into each other's faces, ruddy necks and pronounced veins throbbing in outrage.

Kiku didn't know how it happened next, but a moment later she was jumping out of her stool and running up behind Kyouko to grab her by the arms. The men who had been laughing at the redhead's outbursts suddenly got up and gathered behind her, and in a split second the skinny drunk's friends were there to back him up. Before she knew it there were twenty men on both sides facing off, and she and Kyouko were stuck right in the middle of it.

"Say that to my face again," Kyouko seethed, a vein in her forehead throbbing. She had her adversary by the collar. "I'll bite your fucking head off."

"I'd like to see you try," The other guy snarled back. He was more than a foot taller than her, but Kiku wasn't concerned for her friend's safety. Quite the opposite, actually.

"Back off, buddy," One of the men standing behind Kiku said lowly, "Or you're gonna regret picking a fight with the little lady."

"Do as he says," Kiku pitched in, glad that she wasn't alone in this. "You don't want to get into a fight with her."

The thin drunk threw his head back and guffawed, then stopped when he was interrupted by a hiccup. "What's this kid gonna do to me? You're just afraid to see your friend get the shit beat out of her!"

"C'mere and I'll show you how that really looks!" Kyouko swore loudly. Kiku clapped a hand over the girl's mouth, and the redhead squirmed violently in her arms. She hoped she wouldn't get bitten by those fangs.

[_Don't be an idiot. Let's just walk away from this, okay?_]

Maybe it was the magical telepathy, but something in Kiku's voice seemed to penetrate the cloud of drunkenness around Kyouko's mind. The redhead's eyes cleared a little and she stood up, showing her teeth at her adversary.

"Next time I won't let my friend stop me," She spat. Kiku sighed in relief as she prepared to leave.

But just as Kyouko turned around, the thin drunk said something that made Kiku pale.

"Maybe I should follow you home and shank whoever you're sleeping with, eh?"

Kiku immediately reached to her left to restrain Kyouko, but it was too late because the redhead was already whipping around and plowing her fist right into the side of the man's face, taking both of them down to the floor in one move.

The entire bar erupted into chaos around them, and then the men in front of her were attacking the men behind her, and then it was insanity, as suddenly Kiku's surroundings became a whirlwind of fists and scruffy beards. She ducked and threw herself against the bar as the building filled with the sounds of fistfights. The fat bartender squealed and ducked beneath the bar, and a moment later an empty bottle shattered against the wall where his head had just been.

A chair shattered against the wall, and somewhere else a window broke. The men swore oaths as they grappled each other, their anger fueled by the alcohol they had been drinking. The entire mob heaved back and forth as Kiku dove into it, ducking under several errant punches.

"Kyouko!" Kiku shouted, shoving her way through the tangled mess. One guy tried to bear hug her from behind, but she whirled and kicked him straight in the gut. He flew backwards into a table, sending silverware flying across the room.

Turning around, she spotted her. Kyouko was on the floor in the center of the struggle, straddling the thin drunk's legs as she threw punch after punch into his face. Ducking another another right hook, Kiku ran through the crowd until she was just behind the redhead, close enough to hear her screaming over the din.

"Just threaten Homura one more time! Fucking threaten her one more _fucking time!_"

"Kyouko!" She bellowed again, diving forward and dragging the girl off her victim's limp body. The man wasn't even conscious anymore, his eyes rolled back into his skull as a stark river of blood gushed from his nose and mouth. "You're gonna kill him, for Christ's sake!"

"Like I fucking care!" Kyouko roared, her eyes black with hatred. A crystal glass cup flew through the air straight towards her head, but she grabbed it out of the air and threw it right back, watching it shatter against the jaw of another man across the room and knock him out cold.

"Oh my god!" Kiku yelled. Grabbing Kyouko by the collar, she all but threw her towards the door. This was absolutely insane! The redhead tried to run back to the fight, but Kiku intercepted her, lifting the girl by the waist and hoisting her over the shoulder like a sack. Kyouko started raining punches onto her back, but Kiku ignored them and ran for the door, kicking it nearly off its hinges before plunging into the cold night air.

"GET BACK HERE!" Kyouko screamed as Kiku hauled her away, drawing the looks of several pedestrians as they passed. "I'm gonna protect her! I swore I would protect her! Threaten her one more fucking time...by God...!"

Her voice faded from anger to sobs, and Kiku felt her heart clench as she ran. She shouldn't have even thought about going into that bar. What the hell was she thinking? Beer and Kyouko never mixed well.

She ran until her legs were exhausted, and by that time they were already a few miles away from the bar. Kiku let out a ragged breath as she slowed to a stop, loosening her grip on Kyouko's waste. She had run in a straight line, so they were still by the channel, the water's cold moonlit glint chilling to the eye.

She breathed hard as she stopped, bending over and setting Kyouko down on her feet again. The redhead staggered, her balance compromised by the alcohol, and she leaned against the steel railing for support. Kiku bent over herself to catch her breath, chest heaving as a cold sweat broke out over her brow.

Kyouko sobbed something unintelligible and sagged down to the road, her back resting against the cold unforgiving steel of the railing. Kiku managed to recover somewhat and stood up, staring at the redhead, at the way she looked so pale and frail beneath the moon. It was huge tonight, the moon, and it cast its silver net over everything. Even the girl's eyes, which looked pale and lifeless in the night.

Falling to her knees, Kiku leaned forward and pulled Kyouko into a rough hug.

There was no hesitation, no moment of dilemma as she might have expected. The redhead's arms wrapped around her back immediately, and Kiku held her tight as the she started to sob quietly. Her knees were being rubbed raw by the pavement, but she didn't move, becoming Kyouko's rock as the girl cried into her shirt, looking up at the moon and wondering why it continued to forsake them.

* * *

><p>It was close to midnight when Kyouko finally got back home, and she noticed the moment she reentered the apartment that Homura was there, too.<p>

She found her sitting by the window upstairs, in a chair that she had drawn up so that she could wait and watch the moon. Kyouko stood by the door and stared at her for a long while, but Homura didn't say anything. She just continued watching the heavens like she was watching an actual person, her small face illuminated by that ever-pale light.

The alcohol was still wreaking havoc on her system, and eventually Kyouko had to give in and enter the room with a hand on her head. She walked up right behind Homura and stood behind her chair, waiting for some kind of response, a reaction, an insult, anything.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternal moment, Homura gestured towards the empty chair by her side.

"Sit."

Kyouko did. She didn't see any point in arguing.

Homura didn't look away from the window the entire time, even as Kyouko took her seat beside her. The moon made her look paler than ever, transparent even, like a ghost, and suddenly the redhead was struck by the absurd fear that Homura was going to float through the window and leave her behind forever. Her hand twitched, possessed by the urge to touch her lover, hold her and affirm that she was real, but something held her back from doing so.

Instead she folded her insurgent fingers in her lap, and waited.

When Homura finally did speak, it was to tell a story.

"I knew a girl once," She said, her voice rasp from underuse. "She came to me in a time of darkness. She was my guiding light in life. She saved me from my doom, and doomed herself to die in return.

"And I was in love with her."

Kyouko flinched at that final sentence, but otherwise said nothing. Homura paused in her narrative, smiling bitterly to herself.

"I did everything I could to save her. She had saved me, and I was destined to return the favor. I did the most terrible, unforgivable things a person can do to meet that end. But in the end, I couldn't save her. She saved herself. She was always cruel in that way, my friend, my Goddess. My Madoka."

Kyouko clenched her rebellious fists. Outside, the moon drifted slowly by.

"And now she's gone, the girl I had lived to protect. So what do you do when you have a person who will do anything, but has no one unto which she can present that gift?" Homura showed her teeth. "What do you do when you lose what defined you for so long?"

"You move on," Kyouko replied quietly, the words leaving her lips before she was even done thinking about them.

Homura nodded slowly, thoughtfully, like a machine. Just like a machine. "Yes. And you see, Kyouko, I have moved on. I've found something else worth protecting. You see, Kyouko, I've decided that you are my new Madoka."

Kyouko's breath caught in her throat, and Homura lifted one hand to caress her lover's cheek, her eyes filled with a dark sort of love.

"And just as I did for her, I'll do anything to save you. To save us."

Outside, the moon smiled bemusedly to itself, its frigid craters as deep as the holes in Homura's soul, and the ones opening up in Kyouko's heart.

* * *

><p><strong>So…yeah. Basically this guy reviewed saying I had to take responsibility for stealing his review virginity by updating, and I thought "well, shit, I'd better get to it then."<strong>

**This reason why this is so late is because I was actually in Inner Mongolia for a week, and the experience scarred me a little bit.**

**I don't know when Chapter 34 will go up, since I'll be out of state for the rest of the summer, but we'll see. Hopefully it won't be another month.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Banshee**


	34. Zemblanity

Chapter 34: Zemblanity

Homura was usually the epitome of human patience, but today she was restless. Today her entire body was itching with the desire to do something.

She was occupying a bench by the street, sitting quietly outside of Four's elementary school. Well, it was Five's too, but to be frank she was having a difficult time keeping the other twin in the equation. Homura's mind was too focused on her sister, and the magic that she was praying would be able to save her.

Checking her watch, Homura blew her hair out of her eyes and crossed her arms. Waiting had never been so difficult for her before. Tapping her finger impatiently against her knee, she began counting the lines in the wooden bench to pass the time.

In retrospect, she probably should have asked Mishki for permission to tutor Four before forming a contract with the child. But it had been a spur of the moment decision, and if not then Homura would have found some other way to put her plan into action. Her own life depended on it, after all.

Mishki had been understandingly reluctant to give her go ahead. She had brought the twins to Mitakihara to give them a life away from the sufferings of magic. But Homura was quick to remind the guide that a fate like theirs wasn't the kind one avoided.

"I understand you want them to live peaceful lives," she had said, leaning forward intently. "But this is beyond avoiding. If Four's powers are beginning to affect her lifestyle, we need a way to make sure she can control it. She'll have enough trouble as it is."

Mishki just sucked on her lower lip nervously, jerking her foot around to distract herself. She wasn't the picture of self confidence she had been in the past. Homura knew that learning to love someone deeply could do that to a person.

"I thought it was unfair that I had to go through what I went through, when I was younger," she murmured at last. "But now I look at them and feel almost lucky. Four in particular. Suffering isn't indiscriminate."

"I know," Homura said blandly. "I'm the resident expert."

Mishki smirked wanly. She reached out and patted Homura on the shoulder.

"Okay, Homura. Do what you have to do. Just be careful with her, okay? I love them both very much, after all."

The time traveler bowed her head deeply.

"Thank you."

Of course, Homura had intentionally neglected to tell Mishki of her ulterior motive. As much as she trusted the woman, she knew that this secret was one she could never share. No one understood her feelings enough to understand that this had to be done.

A sharp bell round out somewhere behind her, and Homura looked up to see dozens of small schoolchildren streaming out of the building. Standing up and dusting herself off, she went to wait by the gate, scanning the crowd for signs of the twins.

They were rather easy to spot; the two girls were splitting the sea of children as they walked, as each and every individual scrambled to get away from the two of them. Five was walking close to her sister's side, clutching her twin's sleeve and glaring at anyone who looked at them too closely.

Four was unresponsive, staring hard at the ground as she walked through the barred lines of kids, who were lined up like some sort of eerie procession. A funeral perhaps, a solemn ceremony to celebrate a life that had barely even begun.

Well, no. This was no celebration. Every child was eyeing the twins like they would eye an animal off its leash, the way they would regard an atomic bomb that they didn't know was primed or not. It might have been a funeral, it could have been a ceremony, but the attendees had not come with good intentions. It was like the memorial to a tyrant who wielded censorship, as the people radiated a quiet dissent they could not express.

Homura found herself disgusted with each and every one of those schoolchildren as she waited, walking a few steps so that she stood in the center of the gate. She wanted to make it clear that there was someone here to meet the twins, that there was someone who understood they were as human as anyone else, if not more so.

Five ran up and hugged her when they reached each other, pressed her small face into the time traveler's stomach. "Hi, Auntie Homura," she whispered, her voice subdued.

"Hey," Homura murmured back, stroking the girl's hair. She looked Four in the eye as she approached, but the girl just looked down and trudged past her.

"Let's just get out of here," the twin muttered.

Homura silently followed, leaving the hostile funeral procession behind them.

* * *

><p>"What are you doing?" Homura asked, leaning slightly over Four's shoulder.<p>

The small girl instinctively clutched the book she was holding closer to her chest, hiding its contents from the shield user. Of course, that only served to reveal the book's cover to her, and Homura eye's flicked downwards to read its title.

"A dictionary?" she asked, puzzled. Their seat shook briefly beneath them; they were on a bus, headed to a location she hadn't bothered to share with her young charge just yet.

Four rolled her eyes slowly, deciding to use sarcasm to veil her embarrassment. "Ever since I started..._changing_, my mind has been more thirsty for information. I suppose it feels that it ought to know more than it does. I'm trying to make up with knowledge what I lack in experience. This dictionary is meant to expand my linguistic skills."

Homura snorted as she leaned back to her side of the seat. "Your tongue is sharp enough already, if you ask me."

"I'm just learning ten words and their antonyms every day," Four defended herself, going back to absorbing the dictionary. "It keeps me occupied. And it never hurts to know."

"Yeah," Homura sighed. "That's what I used to think, too."

Four peeked at her from behind the book's spine, her small frame swaying gently from side to side as the bus trundled onwards. "You know, you've gotten noticeably more sarcastic lately."

"I live with a master," Homura admitted.

Four chuckled drily. Homura smirked back and turned to stare out the window.

Five had been more than confused as to why her sister was being taken away for some mysterious reason. She supposed it was more than natural, as the two of them had been inseparable until recently. It had hurt to see that the child understood so little while she herself knew so much more. Looking down at Four had told her that she wasn't alone. Witnessing her sister's ignorance must have been painful, but they knew it would be even worse to enlighten her.

Sometimes it did hurt to know.

"Serendipity," Four read lowly under her breath, tiny finger ghosting up and down the page. "The ability to make unexpected and fortunate discoveries."

"What's the antonym for that?" Homura asked offhandedly, watching the street scrape by.

Four's eyebrows furrowed as she flipped through the dictionary, using the multipurpose index to search for the desired word. "I don't know," she said, sounding surprised at the fact. "Maybe it doesn't exist."

"It ought to."

"Well, I suppose we could just make it up," the twin suggested, flipping back to the original page. "It says here that the word is based off of the land of Serendip, a southern land of spice and warmth, lush greenery and hummingbirds."

As it often did, something that Homura had read in the past occurred to the depths of her mind. She had been an avid reader in the past, though she didn't partake in the practice as much anymore. No story could impress her anymore; the imagination of the greatest author couldn't surpass the tiring novelty of her own life.

But she remembered a story, a legend of a barren and cold land to the north named Zembla. It was a fitting antithesis to Serendip, and Homura had only really retained the odd sounding phrase that had been coined within that brief tale.

"Zemblanity," she said suddenly, smiling for some stupid reason.

"I don't get it," Four said bluntly.

"I don't think anyone does, really."

Five blocks passed quietly between them, as Four continued to quietly rifle through her dictionary. There was another child around her age sitting closer to the entrance of the bus, staring vacantly out the window with a blank, learning look on her face. It was a countenance defined by the blank slate. It was open. But with every word the twin beside Homura absorbed, the time traveler felt like she was becoming more and more closed to the world.

Four cursed when her finger pulled too hard and badly creased the corner of a page, the paper squealing gently as it folded in on itself. She pursed her lips while trying to smooth the section out again, but it was already permanently dented. Her mistake would be evident as long as the book existed.

"A crumpled up paper can't be perfect again," she said, now reduced to stroking the little ear of paper she had abused. "It's a bit like my magic."

Homura blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Things don't just go back to what they were before when I fix them," Four said. "It's hard to explain. But...it feels like something's missing. Something even I can't replicate."

Homura thought back to her favorite mug, the one that had been miraculously repaired after shattering. The thing that had started this all. She thought about all the gentle scratches that had been etched into the ceramic over the years, of the smooth curve of the handle only a human palm could carve. All those things had been gone afterwards, lost to whatever supernatural ether magic inhabited.

"Have you ever tried fixing a crumpled up paper?" Homura asked at last, if only just to say something. Sometimes she made a bad habit of losing herself in her own thoughts.

Four laughed, a cynical sound. "No. But I feel like even that would cause it to lose something. It's just a feeling, really."

"Then how do you make a crumpled paper perfect again?" Homura shot back, strangely bothered by the concept. Certainly it had to be reversible. Everything was reversible.

But the twin just shrugged.

"Just get a new sheet of paper, I guess."

Another tense silence, as Homura glared out the window and quietly realized that a little kid had reached a logical conclusion more easily than she had. Was she entering denial at her old age?

The latent sigh of a book begin closed, as Four closed her eyes and set the dictionary on the set between them. Her nose was scrunched up, and her fingers were agitated.

"I understand that this is a deal meant to benefit the both of us," she said. "But I can't guarantee that I'll be able to fix your soul. I've never tried anything even remotely like it. I...don't know if I can help you."

The strain in her voice was evident, and Homura felt cruel in that moment for banking everything on something Four was ashamed of.

"It's okay even if you can't," Homura said. "But I expect you to try."

The child looked up at her, and for once she looked her age. "Really?"

Homura stared back at her, fully prepared to lie, but Kyouko's pained face flashed through her mind, and she just couldn't.

"No," she sighed, pressing her head against the glass. "No, it isn't."

* * *

><p>Homura's destination of choice ended up being the ruins on the northern end of Mitakihara. It had been the center of a great many building projects over the years, but inherent bad luck and the fact that the sector sat right on top of a fault line had stunted progress. Now the area was just a vast expanse of broken rubble that coated the earth like crudely made snow.<p>

She had chosen this place because she knew no one would be there to bother them. While ordinary humans were rarely capable of seeing demons, they had some intuition into despair, and many citizens claimed that the place gave them eerie vibes. As such it was mostly avoided, aside from the occasional foolhardy beggar who was doing some scavenging. It had been a demon hotspot in the past, but not anymore.

"Is this the place?" Four asked, looking around at the isolated bus stop they were getting off at. They had been the only ones of the vehicle when they exited, as everyone else had left one earlier, more logical stops. Homura waited until the bus had disappeared around the corner before turning around and taking the road that led into the ruins.

"We need to walk the rest of the way," she called over her shoulder, as finely cut gravel crunched beneath her shoes. Four just shrugged and followed her.

It had been a while since she had last been to this place. It was still the middle of the afternoon, but the jagged stone remains of buildings surrounding them cast wild shadows on the gray earth. The roadsides were covered in hastily abandoned building materials, and there were small piles of random junk people had come to dump their less essential commodities. It was disturbingly quiet, as the northern ruins were a bit taboo among the residents of Mitakihara, even in their hyper modern age.

The cracked, ashen remains of a stone hand crumbled beneath Homura's foot as she forged onward. There were lots of those, little piece of what could have been Greek style statues scattered about the piles of rubble. Homura had always found it a little odd, as if the city had been planning to cover this part of the area in statues and Roman styled buildings. Now it was just a place of solitude. In another world, another universe, she and Mami would have fought each other here. They would have hurled bullets at each other like there was no tomorrow, and the broken facades around her would be in even smaller pieces by the end of it.

But that was a different story.

"I'm guessing it should be pretty obvious to me why we're here," Four called out from behind her, clambering over the torso of an elegantly dressed woman as the path began to incline. Homura slowed down a little to let the girl catch up, languidly staring up at a mostly intact archway she was standing under.

"Everything here is broken," Homura replied when Four was close enough. "Perfect place to practice."

"Won't using magic accumulate grief?"

The shield user let her large backpack hang off her shoulder for a moment, zipping it open a fraction to show the heaps of grief seeds stored away inside.

Four's eyes widened slightly, as she leaned back to catch her breath. A welcome reminder that she wasn't that much of an adult just yet. "Something tells me you aren't supposed to have all those."

"These are mostly from the battle at the Sakura Church," Homura quipped, zipping the bag back up. "So I earned many of these myself. The rest are from my own personal stores."

Four watched her teacher as she turned away and continued climbing, jumping onto a ledge as she headed to some other mysterious destination. This girl really was different from all the rest. She couldn't put her finger on it, but it felt as if the shield user had lived a thousand lives before this one.

They walked for a good half hour, penetrating deep into the northern ruins as the sun arced high overhead. As they went further, the buildings began to appear more and more intact. All of them were still broken or chipped in some way, but many resembled actual structures, and the Roman influence became increasingly apparent as they walked on.

Homura finally began to slow down when they reached a stone pavilion sitting on top of a massive pile of rubble and trash. Four supposed that it must have been part of some greater structure after its inception, but now the rest of its body was in pieces. They had to climb over the petrified bodies of a hundred statues to reach the top, and by the time she stood under the peaceful shade of the pavilion she was drenched in sweat.

"Let's begin," Homura said, completely unaffected by the long tread. She set her bag down and rolled her sleeves back. Then she turned to see her student doubled over on the cool stone floor. "What's wrong?"

"I said...my brain had matured, not...my damn _body_," Four snarked through heavy breaths.

Homura stared at her. "You can use a little magic to strengthen your muscles."

"And how was I supposed to know that?"

Her teacher blinked. "Oh. I see your point."

Four rolled her eyes as she stumbled over to a good sized boulder sitting near one of the stone pillars and collapsed onto it, her mature brain grumbling over her not so mature body.

"So, what do we do now?" She called over to Homura, who was facing away from her and gazing out at the view. There was always something fascinating about being the only person for miles around. Mitakihara was just a skyline in a bubble from here, but the time traveler knew that if she entered that bubble she would have to deal with a lot more than just air.

Turning slowly, Homura spread her arms as if to indicate the universe itself. A cool wind swept through the ruins, ruffling her thin jacket and flaring her midnight hair out like demonic wings. Four wondered if this girl knew just how on point her "mysterious transfer student" look was, but decided not to ask.

"Everything here is a practice material," Homura said at last. "Pick up anything. A piece of trash, a broken statue, anything. Then focus."

Frowning dubiously, Four stood up and walked to the edge of the pavilion, where there was yet another pile of junk. She closed her eyes and picked up a random object, which ironically turned out to be a cup. It was a little plastic one, with a jagged crack running down its side. She brought it over to Homura and placed it on the ground in the center of the square, before standing up and waiting further instructions.

"Take a seat," her teacher suggested, sitting cross legged on the floor herself. Four followed suit. "So, do you have any semblance of control over you magic at all?"

"It's hard to say," Four admitted. "It's only ever gone off when I'm around something that's broken in some way, so that might be it. Sometime's it's spontaneous, sometimes it takes a second."

"Fair enough," Homura allowed, gesturing at the plastic cup. "Why don't we start by trying to fix this. Focus."

Deciding to trust her mentor, the twin put her hands on her knees and leaned forward, focusing all her mental energies on the cup. She took in every detail she could manage; the slightly transparency of the plastic, the floral design, the depth of the crack and the smooth texture of the stone beneath it.

She sat like that for a full five minutes before giving up.

"This is impossible," Four groaned, letting her head drop. Her neck hurt.

"It is obviously possible. You've done it before," Homura debunked. "Try again."

"This isn't going to be another rendition of Karate Kid, is it?" Four asked before drilling the cup with her eyes again.

"Shh. Focus."

_She sure loves that word,_ Four thought, as she made an honest effort to devote all her individual attention to the stupid plastic thing sitting in front of her knees. Maybe it wasn't in the cup itself, but the flaw she was trying to address. Her eyes dutifully scanned the crack. It was abrupt and unapologetic, interrupting the floral pattern and displeasing the eye. Come to think of it, the stone slab they were sitting on had a number of cracks too, as if this were some warped imitation game-

There was a blinding flash of light as the ground beneath the cup exploded, a harsh spew of dirt blasting upwards and engulfing the entire pavilion within seconds. Four swore and dove to the side, putting her head down as a thunderous boom rolled across the ruins before breaking against the rubble.

Four coughed as she waved a hand before her face, squinting through the settling dust as she got on one knee. "Homura?"

The sound of rushing wind graced her ears, and the debris was swept away almost instantaneously. Four blinked rapidly as her vision was cleared, just in time for the irises to dilate at what they were seeing.

Homura was sitting in the same position as before, crossed legged before the cup. Or at least where the cup used to be, since it had been thrown off the edge of the pavilion. But of more pressing concern were the twin majestic wings rising out of the girl's back, larger than life, larger than existence itself.

The angelic girl just sighed as Four gaped, ruffling her feathers once. "Don't make me do that again, okay? Transforming is...a little difficult for me right now."

That said, she dismissed her wings, her body glowing briefly as it returned to human form. Four swallowed when they made eye contact, thinking how ridiculous it was that she had known about those wings yet was still awed by them.

"...Should I go get another cup?"

Homura curved her lips. "It doesn't have to be a cup."

"Oh. Right," Four said, going red in the face. She turned and scrambled off to find something else to fix.

Homura smiled affectionately to herself as the child ran off. Maybe she would gain something from this, after all. At the very least, maybe she would be able to get to know Four a little better.

Her veins twitched, and she rubbed gingerly at her wrist.

Her body was starting to ache again.

* * *

><p>The rest of that day was defined by repetition. Four returned with a glass bowl this time, and they returned to the practice they had begun earlier. The cracks in the stone slab they were sitting on were gone now, as Four had accidentally repaired them instead of the cup in the beginning, which explained the massive plume of dust. The twin proposed moving to another location, feeling skittish about sitting on something that had blown up not too long ago. But Homura denied that request.<p>

"It's the first thing you fixed on purpose," she said. "It has meaning now."

But as understanding as Homura might have become, she was still far from a lenient teacher. She was strict and allowed for no lapses in her pupil's concentration. As for Four's rate of success, she failed more often than she succeeded. Most of her attempted ended with her staring at the bowl until her mind couldn't handle it anymore. Other times she ended up fixing something other than the bowl.

She supposed it was good that Homura was giving her zero breathing room. This was something she had to be able to control. Forget living a normal life; if she was going to have a life at all, this had to be dealt with. So she threw herself at the practice with a genuineness that she hadn't felt before.

There was finally a tipping point, at the end of the day when the sun was beginning to embrace the horizon once more. Four was staring hard at the bowl for the fifty seventh time, her eyes dry and the muscles in her forehead sore from all the furrowing her brows had been doing. They were surrounded by a number of accidentally perfected items; an entire stone arm was resting by Homura's knee, and a resurrected bucket was somewhere off near the ledge.

"Remember to breathe," Homura said quietly. "Keeping calm control over your emotions is important. Failure to do that has killed enough girls in the past."

Four nodded as she focused. She hadn't succeeded in fixing just the bowl a single time yet, but her repeated failures had taught her a few things. She had a small hunch that maybe it wasn't just about _fixing_ the broken object; maybe it was about replacing its imperfections, polishing it off as if the world were a tainted slate and she was Creation's housemaid-

There was a brief spark and sharp clapping sound as the bowl disappeared and then reanimated itself, now perfectly whole.

A stunned silence lingered between student and master as they both stared at the bowl in disbelief, unable to fathom what had just occurred. Finally Four threw her hands up and fell onto her back, the cold stone kissing her bare arms and legs.

"Sweet _lord_."

Homura actually laughed, a rare sight in itself. "Congratulations! You finally did it!"

Four sat back up and swiped the bowl into her hands, as if to affirm that it was real and whole. "I think it's in the way I picture it," She murmured, running a finger over the flawless curve of the bowl's lip. "I couldn't describe it, but...it's a mental image. A gut feeling."

"That could be the natural instincts I was talking about," Homura agreed, smiling. "You weren't born with them, but perhaps you are capable of attaining them. It's very rare that someone manages to replace talent with tenacity. You should be proud."

Four stared sheepishly down at her bowl. _Her_ bowl. It was weird, but for the first time she felt vaguely...optimistic. "I've only managed it once."

"It's only the first day. You'll get better."

She looked up. "But you don't have forever, do you?"

Homura's smile began tinged with something a little colder.

"No one does."

"You know what I mean."

"I couldn't say for sure how much time I have." Homura stood up and walked towards the edge of the pavilion, to that unfathomable drop below. Four set her bowl down and followed her mentor to the edge. "I haven't exactly dealt with this before."

Homura leaned back on her hands and dangled her legs over the edge, her body language relaxed and unconcerned by the ledge. Four supposed that the girl was acquainted enough with death to not fear him as much.

"I'm going to feel really bad if I end up not being able to save you," she said at last, sitting next to her senior on the cliff. Mishki probably would have killed her for doing something so dangerous, but Homura didn't seem to care. She tried to feel that same disregard, that same comfort around mortality that her mentor seemed to have.

"I appreciate the thought."

Four stared as Homura picked up little pebbles and chucked them over the edge. "You find positivity in the strangest things."

"It comes with experience. Who knows, maybe you'll be just like me one day." Another rock clattered its way down into the abyss.

"We're both victims of fate," Four said softly, quoting their earlier conversation.

"Suffering is not indiscriminate." A second rock joined its brother, as Homura built a growing grave of dented pebbles at the bottom of the pavilion.

Four fell silent, watching her teacher chuck pebbles. She still felt a small urge to practice her magic, but an entire day's work had left her fortitude worn and tired. The child stared out over the wasteland, thinking that everything here was broken, everything here was less than its whole. And Mitakihara's beautiful silhouette graced the horizon.

"It isn't fair," she said suddenly, surprised by the anger in her own voice. "It doesn't make any sense that we have to suffer this. And by _this_, I mean everything; being a puella magi, being different, and experiencing pain for it. What sort of meaning does that kind of suffering have?"

"Who said it has any at all?" Homura replied, startling her student with the swiftness of her response. Her voice was tired, practiced, as if the time traveler had thought this through too many times already. "Who says there's any romanticism to suffering? People who look for meaning where it doesn't exist are fools. I knew a girl like that, once. Sold her soul for a boy she loved. She attached so much unjustified 'meaning' to her sacrifice that it killed her. I learned to respect her, in the end. But I never stopped thinking she was a fool."

Four picked up her own rock and hurled it over the edge, watching it sail far below into it was swallowed away from sight.

"There much be a reason for everything," she said lowly. "There's a reason Five and I lost our memories. There's a reason why you yourself are so unfortunate. I can't just be for _nothing._"

"I never said our pain didn't serve any purpose." The sun was beginning to set upon the ruins, and the dark orange rays was slanting in through the pillars of the pavilion. "Throughout human history, there have been the sufferers, and those who benefit from said suffering. The puella magi are the greater protectors of man, no, the universe. We are part of the never ending war against entropy. And we make horrible wishes for the people we love the most."

"I don't care about the _universe_," Four snapped, getting to her feet. She was unreasonably agitated. "I care about me. I care about my family. I care about seeing them happy because that makes _me_ happy. Why should I have to suffer to protect a bunch of people who are never going to know a thing about me?"

Homura just shrugged, apparently unfazed by her pupil's irritation.

"It was never about that for me, personally. I contracted in order to protect someone close to me. And I suffered for that end. It was never about 'other people'. She was saved in the end, but I still lost her. And now I might lose Kyouko, and everyone else I've come to cherish. I...I don't want to be the one left behind again."

Four's shoulders sagged. It was clear that any thoughts she might have on the topic had already run through Homura's head a million times. Her own complaints were a normal constant in Homura's life.

"Whoever made out world has no idea what they're doing."

Homura smiled at something discreet. "Even She can't do everything. And she's suffered more than any of us."

Four didn't know what that meant, but it sent chills down her spine.

"So you don't know?" she asked at last, her hands hanging by her sides. "You don't know why we have to go through all of this?"

Homura closed her eyes as the dying sun cut into them.

"I think we suffer to protect the people we love."

* * *

><p>Kyouko had never met an insecure atheist.<p>

They always seemed to possess some sort of intellectual swagger, whether it be warranted or not, as if by having a controversial decision on one aspect of society they had the skeleton key to humanity itself. A great many of them were unshakable in their faith, or lack thereof. She knew very few who showed weakness or vulnerability when it came to their understanding of the world and its inhabitants.

So when Kyouko felt the old urge to go to church, she didn't fight it.

She was mature enough by now to know that admitting her ignorance was important to growing as a person. Nobody was above fault, and nobody was above not knowing. Perhaps even Homura's goddess was at a loss, sometimes. Security wasn't about how strong you were. Kyouko probably would rank in the top zero point one percent of the most dangerous people on the planet, and she was still seeking refuge in the Mitakihara Church.

The building itself looked disturbingly secular, given its purpose; the facade was modern steel and chrome, painted a cool gray to match the metropolitan atmosphere. There was absolutely nothing homely about it, and Kyouko almost turned around and marched back home before realizing that there was no one waiting for her there.

"Welcome," murmured a short follower when the redhead entered the church, bowing his head slightly before walking away. Kyouko nodded back before stepping forward into the main chamber, a small door widening out into legions of gloomy looking chairs.

The walls were made of similar cutting edge material and style, but the lights were dimmed to a dark orange, allowing for her imagination to project images of her old home onto the blackness. The chamber ceiling soared over her head, and rows of chairs stretched out before her until they collided with a small stage at the far end.

There was a small group of people dressed in robes occupying the stage, swaying slowly from side to side. They were all men, all middle aged, and they all made the same deep baritone noise in the back of their throats, their low reverb floating through the chamber to roll against Kyouko's ears.

Needless to say, it was a little different than churches had been a long time ago. Most individual sanctuaries these days had their own personal alterations to practices, beliefs and traditions. No two people seemed to believe in the exact same thing. But everyone wanted their own happy ending in life.

But if something as surreal as this was okay now, one had to wonder what kind of crazy shit her father had been spreading to get excommunicated.

_Whatever_. _ I don't want to think about that._ Kyouko knew negative emotions about her past tended to resurface when she wasn't in a good mood. Maybe it had been a mistake to come here after all. She walked up the middle of the seats, look around for a patch where no one was sitting so she could have some peace to herself.

What she ended up seeing instead was a small blonde head, still distinctive in the gloom.

"Didn't take you for the religious sort." Kyouko walked up right behind Mami's chair, putting a hand on its back.

Mami started and turned around, her expression easing when she saw her friend. "Oh! Kyouko." She looked immediately guilty, as if she had been caught doing something she wasn't supposed to. "Fancy meeting you here."

"There's nothing fancy about it." Kyouko walked around the row and plopped herself into the seat by the blonde, the hinges creaking slightly. An elderly couple across the aisle glared at them, but she ignored it. "I wouldn't be here if I could help it."

There was a moment of contemplation as Mami thought about what the redhead had said, and for once Kyouko felt like the blonde understood what she meant. Which was a weird feeling.

Mami drew her knees up in the seat and hugged them, resting her chin on the sloped bones. Her eyes lidded slightly, and she looked small and pliable in that seat, like the low notes of the choir up on the stage would slowly crush her.

"There is a reason why God exists," she said, speaking softly. "I think it's so we can attribute inevitability to someone. There are some things in life we can't explain. Some things that we can't stop, no matter what we do. God is man's scapegoat, in that way, but we disguise that purpose by painting him as all loving and all knowing."

"And all giving." Kyouko pressed her palms together and closed her eyes, letting her head fall forward as she began to pray. It wasn't a gesture people really made anymore; for some reason the practice had grown less popular over time. Maybe most people just stopped needing to ask God for things as time went on. Maybe most people were content with their lives the way their were.

All without having to make a single wish.

"What are you praying for?"

"I don't know," Kyouko murmured. "Peace?"

"Peace." Mami looked off to the side. "You and I have never had it."

"What do you mean?"

The choir began to hum more loudly as Mami gesticulated vaguely. "Before I contracted, I could only describe my life as 'normal'. Then the crash happened and it all went to hell. The rest has been a long, exhausting climb back to the top. I can look back and realize that I had peace back then. But I've never known it in the moment."

Kyouko smirked as she closed her eyes again.

"We don't know most things in the moment. At least hindsight is twenty twenty."

"Otherwise we'd all be screwed."

The redhead actually laughed. Mami chuckled along with her, and it was all very morbid.

"You know, the cafe opens in a few weeks." The revelation came out of nowhere, or at least that how it seemed to Kyouko. She had been paying almost no attention to other people since her fight with Homura, and she immediately knew that this was Mami's way of saying that she had noticed. Guilt flooded her cortex as she bit her lip.

"I'm sorry, Mami. I really am."

The blonde just sighed. "How can I hold it against you, anyway? You've got enough on your hands already. Kiku...she told me what happened the other night."

Ugly memories of fists and hazy anger. Kyouko drew her praying hands in until they were clasped fists instead.

"The two of you seem almost destined to suffer," Mami murmured. "And I know Homura closes herself off when she's dealing with something difficult...how is she? What is she doing right now?"

Right now? The answer almost arose to Kyouko's tongue, because she had grown so used to being able to respond to that question. But she suddenly realized she had no fucking idea, and the thought hit her like a wall of steel.

"I don't know." Her hands fell with her head, and Kyouko clutched at her skull. "I have no idea. But she's not home, I can tell you that much."

"Oh, Kyouko..." Warm, motherly arms enveloped the redhead, and she didn't reject the hug. Her many years on the streets rebelled against the sign of weakness, but beneath that her heart was breaking, and the remedy was human warmth.

"Shh. It's okay." Mami stroked her friend's hair slowly as the girl fought against actually crying. She thought bitterly that this was what it had to take to get them this close again. Suffering, the great builder and the terrible destroyer.

"It's not okay. Why do people always say that?"

Mami paused, her hand hesitating mid-stroke. Then she exhaled slowly.

"Everybody has a wish, I guess."

* * *

><p>"I want you to remember your exercises. Spend at least half an hour meditating on the feeling so you won't forget it."<p>

"I'll be fine, Homura."

They were both standing in the hall that led to the door of Mishki's apartment, speaking quietly so that the guide would not hear them and come outside. The child looked exhausted, as she well should have after an entire day of expending magic. She had already cleansed her soul, but physical tiredness was another issue entirely.

"Just remember. It's all in the feeling."

"You don't have to be so worried. I'm not stupid."

Homura stepped back and forced herself to smile. Maybe she was being a little pushy. "I know. But I'm afraid I might be."

Four stared back at her for a moment, her eyes looking a bit more human than they usually did.

"You aren't stupid, Homura. Just damned."

The older girl stared, then smiled.

"I think I might prefer the former."

They rang on Mishki's doorbell after that, standing quietly as they awaited a response.

They didn't have to wait very long. The door was yanked open a moment later, and a worried looking Mishki looked around until she saw Four. "Oh, you two are back! How was it? Did it go well? Can you control it now? Homura, is she going to be okay?"

"Calm down," the time traveler suggested instead, pulling the door wider so they could step inside. "Everything's fine. Four can tell you the details if you're really interested, but we made good progress on the first day. I haven't exactly done this before, but I think we have a good method of teaching her control. She's going to be fine, I think."

Mishki's eyes widened, and oddly enough, Homura saw them flooding with a kind of motherly relief. She wondered when the guide had become that kind of a person.

"Is that true?" She said softly, looking at Four.

The twin shifted uncomfortable for a moment, then nodded.

"I think I'll be able to control it. Not today. But one day."

Mishki fell to her knees and pulled her kid into a tight hug.

"That's wonderful."

[_Hug her back,_] Homura sent, letting her words move telepathically between them.

[_What?_]

[_It's something people do to show their affection. Don't you care about her?_]

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line, and then the child quietly reached up and looped her arms around Mishki's neck. It looked awkward, funny even, but it was harmony, and it was love.

Homura couldn't help smiling. Mutual happiness was a rare sight to behold.

Then she thought about how she planned to exploit that happiness, and she smile faded.

"I'm going to head back now. Let Four fill you in on the rest," she murmured, then turned and fled down the steps, not even stopping to check if Mishki was okay with her leaving.

The bile rose in her throat, and the soul sickness came back with a vengeance as she wove her way down the stairs and away from the apartment building, like a brief respite in a round of flogging just so the torturer could rear back for an even harder lash. Homura's breathing became ragged and she had to slow down, dragging back to a walk in some vaguely unfamiliar part of town.

She had to admire Four for her tenacity. It was never easy to change your own nature, even if it was for something better. The child was suffering to benefit herself, but Homura was gaining from it too.

_There are the sufferers, and those who benefit from said suffering. _Maybe it wasn't just a one way thing. Maybe Kyouko would be better off with Homura's pain, but Homura would be better off with Four's. Just an endless cycle of hurt, like a fire spewing pendulum, a Newton's cradle where the balls were atomic bombs.

Her feet hit cold pavement, and Homura looked up to see the Mitakihara Church looming high above her, its ultramodern facade showing off her reflection, throwing her faults and cracks back at her. She was going to turn away and just walk home, but some absurd superstitious part of her made her stay. It was one of those things where her instincts beat her rationale.

Reaching forward, she pushed open the door.

She sensed Kyouko's presence the moment the door cracked open. Gasping softly, she let it fall back and immediately concealed her magical signature, disappearing from the radar in a split second. Hopefully she had been quick enough to avoid detection from the redhead, and now that she thought about it, Mami.

Immediate guilt gripped her brain as she realized what she had just done. She and Kyouko might be fighting, but it wasn't really cause for hiding like this. She ought to just uncloak and walk up to them-

"...love is a fickle creature with poor taste..."

Biting her lip, Homura clutched the hem of her pants and crept forward. The church opened up into a dark, yawning chamber, and a male chorus swayed ominously from side to side at the far stage. She spotted the red and yellow heads pressed closed together near the back row.

"Poor taste my ass. It's got no taste buds at all."

That was Kyouko. Gulping, Homura leaned against the wall by the door and continued to listen, feeling like she was being trapped out of some private world, but it was entirely by her own choice. The priest standing by the door looked at her but said nothing.

"I hate to ask for you advice on this now, of all times. You must be sick of thinking about people's feelings by now..."

"It's fine. I guess it's easier to worry about someone else's problems than mine."

Mami smiled. "I suppose."

"So, what are you going to do? Have you decided yet?"

The blonde's shoulders depressed, as if she were sighing. "I don't even know how to decide. I've never been in love. I've never really had someone else be in love me, as far as I know. It's a new experience for me."

Kyouko's ears twitched in that way they always did, and Homura knew she was smirking. "Yeah, I've never had someone actively pursue me like that either. Homura and I just sort of...happened. It wasn't something either of us were conscious of. And Sayaka...well, you know that story inside and out."

Mami shrugged. "I guess I'm mostly afraid of the pain I see you going through, Kyouko. To be honest, Kiku asked me to forget about sexual orientation or anything like that. She just wanted me to decide whether I would be happy with her. And I think I would be. As it is right now, I don't see how anything bad could come out of it. But I just want to ask-"

"Is that what I thought too?" Kyouko predicted, cutting Mami off. "Yeah. It is. Sayaka was always an idiot, so I knew from the beginning that having her might hurt me. But Homura's different. She's special, and I thought she was invincible. But maybe that's too much to expect out of someone. Especially someone like us."

Mami sighed again. The chorus was winding down. "Loving everything about a person sounds painful when you talk about it."

Kyouko snorted. "Oh no, Mami. You can't love everything about a person. It's impossible, if you ask me."

"Why"

Homura saw Kyouko's head turn towards the blonde's, and she knew they were staring each other intensely in the eye.

"You can only love certain parts of a person. Maybe even most of them. But never all of them. Because you'll learn to adore the parts of them you care about so much, that you'll end up hating the parts of them that endanger what you hold dear. I love Homura's strength. I love her grasp of the world. I love the way she speaks to me. But I hate her stubbornness. I hate the way she helps. And you know what, I fucking _hate_ the way she always thinks it's her against the world."

The two of them were silent for a moment. The chorus finished and filed off the stage.

"Everything that is given must one day be returned," Mami murmured at last. "Everything returns to equilibrium."

"Fullmetal Alchemist?"

"No. Kyubey."

They snorted briefly, and Homura couldn't help smiling. She loved Kyouko's ability to satirize anything. But she hated the way the redhead thought she could understand everything at once, too.

So maybe loving someone was the same as hating them. And maybe suffering was the path to peace, and vice versa.

"Would you ever start over?" Mami asked suddenly, drawing in Homura's attention. "Would you ever go back in time and try to fix all the things that went wrong? Maybe, if you had the chance one day, would you go back, even if there was no guarantee you'd make it this far again?"

_No_, Homura thought, clutching her arm till it hurt. _No. Never again._

Kyouko smiled and hugged her knees.

"Maybe, if I could make it a little better for her."

They really did think one and the same.

* * *

><p>The apartment felt cold these days whenever Homura returned to it. It wasn't filled with the same contended warmth that it used to have.<p>

In the end, she hadn't approached Kyouko in the church. She had slipped out the door and wasted an hour at a local convenience store in order to ensure she would arrive home at a different time than the redhead.

The door creaked when she pushed it open, and the first thing she actually saw was Kyouko leaning against the wall of the hallways, staring off into space as if lost within the landscape of her thoughts. The redhead jerked her head to the side when she heard the door, eyes widening when they made awkward contact with Homura's.

"O-Oh. Hi," She said dumbly, fidgeting nervously in the middle of the hall. Homura kept her eyes on the floor as she stepped inside and slipped out of her shoes, letting the door click shut behind her. Kyouko continued to pick at the hem of her shirt, unsure of what to do.

"Welcome...back?" Kyouko tried again, red eyes searching out black ones. Homura gave it to her, raising her head and staring at her lover with startling clarity. There were no lights on in the house yet, so their irises floated in the dark like indicators of the soul. Kyouko's was tainted with uncertainty.

Love was like building a tower with toothpicks. Maybe you'd reach high, maybe you'd see things from an altitude no one had before. But it was also that much easier to knock everything down, to crush the foundation in a way that wouldn't have been possible if it were a flat bunker made out of rocks instead. Love built you up as much as it destroyed you.

Homura thought about that, and also reflected that she had become both. The builder and the destroyer. The sufferer and the protected.

She had had enough destroying for today.

Falling forward, Homura let her head bump lightly against Kyouko's chest. Arms came up and wrapped feverishly around the girl's middle, pulling her closer, closer than they had been in weeks.

Kyouko breathed in sharply at the unexpected move, but Homura refused to budge. She pressed her lips to her lover's shirt and inhaled, delicate fingers clutching at the hems like lonely hooks.

The redhead sighed and stroked the time traveler's hair. "Homura, I-"

"I love you." It just sort of slipped out, like water in an overfilled cup. She hadn't meant to say it, but for once she didn't regret anything.

Kyouko blinked, flushing slightly. "Let's not just stand here, okay?" She asked softly, crouching. She slipped her arms behind Homura's knees and picked her up bridal style, before turning and heading back for the couch. The shield user just hid her face in the redhead's shoulder.

Reaching the couch, she turned on the television for background noise before tossing the remote aside. She set Homura down on one side of the seat and made to sit next to her, but the girl's grip on her shirt suddenly intensified. Kyouko looked up in surprise, and found eyes filled with some bewitching sense of need.

Closing her eyes, Kyouko laid down on the couch and opened her arms. Homura crawled easily into them, their bodies melding together in a way made natural by practice. Kyouko ran her fingers through the girl's locks as they listened to each other's breathing. It was strangely fitting that they found comfort in a sound that was proof that neither of them was dead.

"What did you do today?" Homura asked softly, her voice humming against Kyouko's collarbone.

The redhead took a good minute coming up with an answer to that question, mostly because it was so suddenly mundane. Finally she settled with an equally generic answer.

"Slept in. Hung out with Mami a bit."

"Oh." So they weren't going to talk about the church. Well, that was fine. Homura couldn't blame Kyouko from hiding a few things from her.

"What did you do today?"

"Spent some time with Mishki and Four. Just to check up on them."

"Oh."

Now they were both relying on half truths. But it was still okay. After all, it was peaceful. And that was all that mattered, right? That they could lay here like this, with no events taking place but at their own desire and discretion...

"You know, I find it hideous that I can appreciate silence like this so much," Kyouko muttered. "Just reminds me of everything I've ever been through."

"Don't think about it," Homura whispered, eyes closed. Her finger drew little patterns on the redhead's collarbone.

"I can't do that, Homura. Peace is only the lack of suffering."

She was right. This was but a brief respite from the tumultuous storms. A short trip to Serendip, where they would be able to rest and prepare for another thousand years on Zembla. Homura knew that this was just a momentary truce, that neither of them were really going to talk about anything serious. They just both needed the feel each other, to assure each other's existence.

"We all had peace until we lost it," Kyouko thought aloud, the vibrations of her throat lulling Homura into a sleepy daze. "Maybe if Mami had accepted her fate, she would have joined God instead of having to have this kind of life. Maybe if kiku never met her she would still be a normal girl. Maybe if I wasn't such a meddling bastard my dad would still be alive. And maybe you hadn't fallen in love the first time, you wouldn't be so fucked up."

That last comment broke any semblance of innocence in the moment, and Homura laughed drily. "I really am fucked up, aren't I?"

"You are. Not that I blame you. You've been through a lot of dark things. Some things that even I'll never know about."

"I'll tell you the stories one day," Homura yawned. "I'll tell you everything you want to know, and then some. Some day. But until then..."

"Until then, it'll keep hurting like this," Kyouko finished.

Homura hummed. "That's the way it goes."

"What's the whole point of that?"

In response, Homura leaned up and kissed Kyouko slowly, eyes closed and breath leaving her lungs at a steady rate. They separate after a long moment, and she reached up to cup the redhead's face.

"We all take on pain to protect our loved ones," she said. "I've hurt a lot for you, Kyouko. And the thing is, I'm more than willing to hurt even more, if that's what it takes."

Kyouko stared at her for a long time, trying desperately to find a proper reason to say "no." She didn't even know why, but every cell in her brain wanted to prove that pain wasn't the only way to gain. She tried to think of something, anything, but as she lost herself within those fractured black eyes, her mind failed her.

And that was the end of the blessed moment. Homura slipped off of Kyouko and walked off to her room. Kyouko watched her go and then pressed her palms to her face, trying to fight the urge to scream.

Then the phone rang.

"Hello?"

_"Is this Sakura Kyouko?"_

"Who's this?"

_"A bearer of good news, hopefully."_

Kyouko leaned her head back and stared at the ceiling.

"I could use a little more of that."

* * *

><p>Homura threw her entire soul into teaching Four after that night. She didn't care that she hardly even saw Kyouko anymore, since she left in the morning. If things went as planned, she would get to have an eternity with the girl. That quiet moment they had shared on the couch would become forever.<p>

Because that was the point, wasn't it? No pain, no gain? Men marched off to war so that their wives and children might sleep more soundly at night. Wolves starved for their pups. And puella magi died for the rest of humanity. Maybe she was like those men, those wolves. She had already figured out a long time ago that the universe didn't have a very high opinion of her.

Luckily enough, Four seemed just as in to improving her control of her magic as her teacher was. There was a definite fear in the unknown, in being unable to know when you were going to cause another earthquake in your apartment and scare the people you cared about the most. It was probably that fear that drove the child so much, that fear of being a freak. Because they were freaks, all of them. Freaks trying to live normal lives.

Mishki wasn't too happy about having Four leave so early in the morning almost every day, especially when the kid came back panting and exhausted most of the time. But her complaints quickly faded when progress became evident. Homura hadn't been entirely sure the practice would give Four control over her magic, but it seemed that her hypothesis was correct; the twin had a much higher success rate when it came to fixing things, and Mishki had admitted that accidents rarely happened in the apartment anymore. The neighbors seemed to be relaxing, too.

Yes, everyone else seemed happy with the way things were going. Kiku and Mami were as busy as ever with their newly opening business, and Homura quite honestly preferred that they stayed that way, since it curbed any meddling. Mishki was happy. Five seemed to be content with the knowledge that her sister was getting better. And Four seemed to have forgotten about their promise.

Only Homura was dissatisfied. Ten days after their first lesson, Four was still stuck on repairing small items; cups, plates, little slabs of rock. The most difficult thing she had ever fixed was a watch, which was made complex by all the little gears inside of it, but that had mostly been by accident. There was no specific deadline, but Homura didn't know how much time she had left. Her body was growing weaker all the time, and though she tried her best to hide it from Four, it was getting harder to do.

She needed something else to happen.

It came on the eleventh day, when they were returning from another day filled with breaking and fixing, destroying and building. Student and teacher got off the bus that took them away from the ruins and back into the close walled skyscrapers of Mitakihara. Homura walked off the bus in a daze, mind buzzing with calculations and hypothesis. Progress on Four's end, decay on hers.

"I can call up my magic a lot more reliably now," Four said excitedly. It was one of the few times she actually sounded her age. "I haven't blown up the house in a week."

"There's still a lot more to be done," Homura replied absently.

"I know. But it's progress," Four said, squeezing through the thick crowds that populated the streets during rush hour. She reached out and slipped her fingers between Homura's as they walked. The shield user barely noticed, as deep in thought as she was.

It was easy for Four to get lost in the crowds given her stature, so she had recently fallen into the habit of holding Homura's hand while they walked home. She supposed it was a symbol of the fact that this experience had brought them a little closer. Bonds were another thing pain could build.

They walked to the end of the block and stood waiting at the crosswalk, watching the streetlights reflect off the damp tarmac. Sleek looking cars zoomed by as Homura continued to think, grounded to reality only by the small hand she held clutched in her own.

_We need to move her into fixing more difficult things soon,_ Homura mused as she walked, letting her muscle memory take them back to Mishki's apartment. _She can't just focus on cups and spoons forever. Maybe I could have her try one of those broken statues in the ruins. It might be a little taxing on her, but we'll never improve in time if we keep going at this rate...if only there was a way to know when-_

_"_Hey, look out!"

It happened in several split seconds. As it turned out, she never should have let her thoughts drift so far when walking through the busiest part of the city with a child on her arm. With a snap of the head she saw the black asphalt road beneath her, and realized that she had begun crossing the street without waiting for the light to change. The roar of cars suddenly pervaded her ears, as if they hadn't been there before, and her grip on Four's hand instinctively tightened when the child screamed.

It was only then that she saw the car barreling straight towards them, its blinding chrome fender bearing down like a monstrous beast, and Homura knew in an instant that it was too late. Transforming would take at least one second, and they had one third of that time. She had no weapons, no methods of escape, only the fear chilled hand gripped in her own and the all consuming thought that she should have talked to Kyouko this morning-

Then hands slamming into her back, and now she's flying through the air and hitting the pavement near the edge of the road with a painful crash, street lights and the terrified screams of passerby spinning around her. The street tore into her arms and knees as Four rolled past her, but Homura lifted her head in confused horror, eyes zeroing in on the spot where they had just been standing.

Just in time to see a tall, middle aged man she didn't know get run over by the car.

Homura's heart screamed when she saw it happen. There was no real way to describe it; it was just so sudden, so unexpected, so _ridiculous, _that she could only bring two badly shaking hands to her mouth and fight the incredible urge to retch. The car blurred past her at sixty miles per hour, tires screeching against the pavement as the driver flailed in terror and tried desperately to _slow down_, wide plumes of steam rising from the tires as it spun out and finally came to a stop in the middle of the intersection.

As for the man, his limp, bloodied body rolled twenty yards to the right until he stopped facedown on the asphalt.

Homura's immediate thought was that he was dead.

She didn't even give the people standing and panicking around her time to start screaming. Her entire body became engulfed in a blinding light as she transformed, one hand coming up to slam at her shield so hard that she was afraid of denting the metal, trying desperately to enter her own world as soon as possible.

Colors flashed out of existence around her, and a hollow ticking noise began emanating from her shield. An immediate wave of vertigo punched her straight in the gut, and she collapsed back onto the hot pavement, chest heaving from a visceral mix of pain and singed nerves. Still suppressing the desire to lose her entire lunch, Homura turned over and crawled towards Four, reaching out and grabbing the girl's hand.

The child came to life immediately, gasping and flailing violently in confusion. Homura mustered what little strength she had and held the girl down, pinning her wrists to the street and forcing eye contact.

"God! Homura, that man, I...oh, God-"

"Not right now. Be quiet. Four, I said _be quiet!_" Grabbing the girl's thin shoulders and shaking her roughly, Homura snapped her student to attention with the volume of her voice. She had never actually yelled at the child before, and it was surprising enough to calm her down for a moment.

"We don't have time to panic right now," Homura whispered harshly, even though there was no one who could hear them. Four's pupils were tiny and the whites of her eyes were shot red, but she otherwise continued to listen, chest rising and falling rapidly. "We'll have plenty of time to freak out later. Right now, we have to do something about this."

That said, she let go of Four and forced herself to look at the wreckage. The car was still sitting in the center of the crossroads, twin towers of smoke frozen in the moment like frigid clouds. She didn't want to, but Homura made her eyes take into the bright crimson blood splattered across the front of the car and most of the windshield; or she at least imagined it to be that way, since it was in black and white. Beyond the blood on the glass she saw the driver's terrified face, his eyes and teeth caught in a grotesque snapshot of confusion and horror.

And then the man who had saved them, laying facedown near the gutter, bleeding out into the sewage pit. As still in this moment as he would be if Homura stopped her magic. That squeezing feeling rose inside her throat again, and she had to look away.

"Homura?" Four whispered, voice hushed and scared. Her wide eyes bore into her teacher, too afraid to look at the wreckage to their left. "What are we going to do?"

Do. Do? Was there really anything to be done about this? Aside from crossing the street too early, it wasn't as if Homura had done anything wrong. So they weren't trying to cover up for anything here. And if she released her magic without moving anything, nobody would discover her true nature. There was no practical reason for her to do anything for this man, really.

So why did she hesitate?

She knew why. She knew that they would both be dead if they hadn't been pushed out of the way. Not dead forever, of course, but then they would be carted off to a hospital where their life threatening wounds would miraculously heal, and then how were they going to explain anything? When Homura really thought about it, it was obvious that this man had just saved them a whole lot of trouble

But it was more than that. As she continued to scan their savior's body, taking in the mangled right leg and the strange depression in his ribcage where the bones had snapped in half, she thought that he probably hadn't done anything in his life to deserve this. He was probably suffering for no reason right now, and all for doing something he believed was right, because he tried to protect someone. Just like herself. Just like all of them. It wasn't fair.

And that made Homura angrier than anything.

"Come on." She grabbed Four's hand and started pulling them towards the wreckage, the smaller girl stumbling when she was nearly pulled off her feet. Homura's shoes clicked hollowly on the street as she approached the body, walking past shocked women holding their hands to their faces, little children crying in confusion, grown men shouting and yelling and pointing at the tragedy that had just unfolded before them.

"What are you doing? Homura?" The time traveler ignored her pupil's words and focused on walking towards the man, knowing that it was going to take every bit of her strength not to turn around and just leave. She gained nothing from this. Little droplets of blood were still hanging suspended in the air, where they had been flung and had yet to fall. She avoided them as they walked.

They reached the body after what felt like a thousand eternities, stopping when they were close enough to stare down at him. Pursing her lips, Homura let go of Four's hand and crouched down, lifting one hand and making to put it on his shoulder.

But Four grabbed her. "He'll become aware if you touch him, won't he?"

Homura blinked, going still. Right. Of course. She wasn't thinking straight. "Sorry," she muttered, dropping her hand and walking towards a piece of the car's fender that had broken off and was floating in the air. She pulled it into their time sphere and returned to the body, leaning down and hooking the piece of metal under the man's collar. Breathing in deeply, she flipped him over.

The next thing she did was cover Fours eyes with her hands. The man's body was absolutely devastated; his entire right side was destroyed, thick rivulets of blood getting pumped out of a book sized hole in the ribcage by a crushed heart. Two deep slashes ran across his chest where metal shrapnel had shredded him. His clothes were torn and his cheeks were rubbed red from slamming into the asphalt. And when her eyes drifted further downwards, she saw the right leg that was twisted into an angle it was never meant to be in.

There was no doubt about it. This man was going to die.

"H-Homura." Four said in a wobbly voice. "Let me see him."

"No way in hell," She whispered, eyes still morbidly stuck on the mangled body.

"Homura." The child's voice was firmer this time. "Let me see him. I'll be fine, I promise."

The shield user closed her eyes and cursed. She would have to let Four see anyways, if this was going to work. Counting to three and sending out a quick prayer, she removed her hands from Four's face. The twin opened her eyes and saw.

A violent shudder ran through her tiny frame. Her breathing shortened and her jaw flexed painfully, but otherwise she balled her tiny fists and didn't react.

"Are you okay?" Homura asked quietly, lifting an arm to hug her.

But Four shook her head. "I'm fine," she growled, voice low and heavily controlled.

Homura took in a long, deep breath. "Good," she said. "Because you're going to save him."

Four actually flinched, her face blanching badly. "I'm _what?_"

"He's going to die otherwise." Homura looked down and locked the twin's eyes with her own. "He saved us, Four. You can't just walk away from someone after they do that for you."

"But I..." Four stared down at her hands. "I don't think I can do it. I've only fixed _cups_, Homura. I'll probably kill him."

"He's dying already. Just look at him."

"I'd rather not."

"Four we can't just leave him like this." Homura knelt down so that she could look straight up into the kid's eyes, which were downcast and angry. The man just continued staring up at the sky, face pale and drawn out with all the blood it had lost. "This is a chance for you to do some good with that power of yours. You've got nothing to lose."

Four stared at the man who had sacrifice himself for them, at the redness soaking through his thin jacket, at the unseeing eyes. Even she understood that it wasn't fair for him to be laying there like that. Sometimes the world punished the best of people.

"What if I hurt him?" She whispered. "What if I scare everybody again?"

Homura's face grew hard. "You can't be so worried about what other people are going to think. Sometimes you have to put yourself first."

Four bit her lip and thought about what Mishki might want her to do.

"Okay," she said at last. "Okay, fine. I'll do it."

Homura nodded solemnly. "Thank you."

Thank you? Wasn't this for the man, not for Homura?

Four walked towards the corpse-to-be and sat down in front of it. She steeled her nerves and forced herself to look at it intently. Homura stood a few steps back and watched, arms crossed, an admittedly worried expression on her face. The shield user had no doubt that this was the right thing to do. But there was never any guarantee of success. The twin analytically scanned the injuries presented before her, actually surprising Homura when she reached out and peeled the man's shirt back, revealing the shattered ribcage.

"Do you think you can do it?" Homura breathed, heart rate fluttering. This wasn't just a test of whether Four could heal a man's body. It was a test of whether she might be able to fix souls, one day.

The twin bit her lip. "It's hard to say. I think when I use my magic, it involves going back and piecing the object back together. Not necessarily from memory, I don't think, but some internal knowledge. It isn't really an exact science. And living flesh is very different from a plastic cup."

That said, she reached out and pressed two fingers to the man's eyes, closing the petrified lids. Before she did, Four noticed that they were colored blue. The hair was a dirty blonde, and he had a strong nose. After that she stopped paying attention to the details. It was easier to do this if she didn't humanize him.

Closing her own eyes, Four transformed. A black light washed over her body as her Soul Gem manifested itself on a small circlet on her head, its pitch dark diamond fixed tightly on the center. Homura had always found it very peculiar that the child's clothes never changed when she transformed. Perhaps it was because the twin lacked the necessary identity at her age.

Four began breathing slowly to herself, and Homura knew she was performing the routine exercises they had developed to get her mentally prepared for using magic. It was easy to fudge a spell or attack if you weren't concentrated enough.

Homura looked away as her student prepared herself, eyeing the petrified crowds around them, at the dark buildings looming overhead. It had never felt so eerie to stop time before. It might have been due to the fact that they were in the middle of a busy intersection, somewhere usually bustling with noise, now completely silent. The frozen passerby watched them like a statue audience, and for a moment Homura thought that the broken sculptures of the ruins had awoken to come bear witness.

Four opened her eyes.

"I'm ready."

"May the Goddess guide you," Homura whispered. Four didn't really know what that meant, but it comforted her nonetheless.

Placing her head on the man's broken chest, she drew on her soul.

Nothing happened for several moments. The dust whispered, shrapnel floated, people stared. Homura began to fidget impatiently as her stomach began to turn over, her body rebelling every moment against her continuous usage of magic. This was going to tax her. Severely.

Another minute passed, another minute where Four sat like a mummy. Homura was hurting, but she dared not tell the girl to hurry up. This was going to be difficult enough without a time constraint.

Four's gem suddenly flared, a black light arcing outwards from the stone circling her head. It snaked forward and circled around the man's body, twisting as if indecisive. The child breathed in deeply, the light intensified with her lungs, pulsating brighter before fading back again.

"Homura," she whispered suddenly.

The time traveler snapped to attention

"Yes?"

"I hope this guy hasn't got a family," she breathed, before releasing her magic.

Black light engulfed everything within a fifty yard radius, blasting outward in a massive shockwave that would have thrown Homura off her feet if she hadn't been ready. She brought her shield to her eyes and hunkered down, bracing her body against the blast as the world began to shake around her, and suddenly the light was suffocating and dying, and she lost control of her magic.

The absence of light was greeted with the return of color, as time once again resume its natural flow. Homura's magical garb faded into normal clothing as high pitched screams began to fill the air, as pedestrians on every side of her yelled and pointed at the man, the man who had just been _struck by a car,_ the one laying in a bloody mess of his own guts-

The one opening his eyes and gasping for breath, his ribcage totally intact, his leg straight again, his face uncut. The one raising his arms and flailing in blind panic as Four tried desperately to calm him down. The one who wasn't dead, who was completely fine, but oh my god, I just saw him get hit by a car, how is he not dead?

Homura began to shake violently as she tried to get up, and ended up having to crawl to where Four was. The child was still trying to restrain the man, trying assure him with her words, but he wasn't having any of it. There was something wrong here. Something was wrong. The look in his eyes was not good. They were blank, they were white and scared and in terror. They were not the eyes of a man just saved.

They were the eyes of a damned person. Homura saw them every time she looked in a mirror.

"Sir, I'm begging you, just calm down for a moment-"

"Let go of me! Where am I? What the fuck-"

"Takase!" the level of confusion rose as a middle aged woman broke through the panicking crowd and ran right into the middle of the street towards him. She all but shoved Four aside before falling to her knees and hugging him, sobbing tears of relief as she stroked the man's hair. "Oh, Takase, you're okay! But how, I swear to god I saw you-"

"Let go of me!" Takase tried to push the woman away from him, but she insisted on keeping them locked together.

"No, honey, you're just confused," His supposed wife assured, trying to hold his arms down. "We need to get you to a hospital-"

"I said let go of me!" He bellowed, ripping his hands free and striking her across the face.

The woman squealed and fell hard onto the asphalt, bruising her hands on the tarmac. Four swore out loud and dove on top of Takase again, as he began thrashing and yelling oaths.

"What the hell! That's you're wife, you idiot! What do you think you're-"

"Get off me! I don't know her!" The man kicked Four away from his person and leapt to his feet, backing away from the rest of them. "I don't know any of you!"

"Sir," Homura said softly, achingly, in a voice that was scared as hell. "You don't recognize me at all? You just pushed us out of the way of that car over there. Don't you remember at all?"

Takase turned around and saw the smoking wreck of the car, where a few other people were helping the dazed driver out of the vehicle. He turned back and stared at them, obviously searching for any semblance of familiarity, but the white fear in his eyes told Homura he found none.

"Pushed you-no, I didn't do that. Or did I? Did I get hit in the head?" he wondered aloud, staggering backwards as his face went blank again. A few more people left the crowd and tried helping the wife up, but she batted them all aside and began sobbing to herself.

"Homura, there were no injuries on his head," Four whispered harshly. "Do you hear me? _Nothing. _His head was fine. Homura, what-"

"We have to go," Homura said in response, eyes wide and hands trembling. "Did you hear me? I said we're going." she grabbed Four's hand and ran, turning tail and dragging them both into the crowd, kicking people out of her way as she fled, the burning tears in her eyes flying out as the wind bit into her face.

It wasn't fair. She had never expected this. Why did it have to turn out this way? Why couldn't she ever have a happy ending?

She had been prepared to hurt a lot more. Eternity, if necessary.

But now the universe wanted her memories too.

_How much more do you plan to take from me?_

* * *

><p><strong><em>I<em>**** probably would have gotten this out a little sooner, but I'm at a five week program at a university at the moment, and it's pretty rigorous. So as usual, apologies for the delay.**

**I know the despair meter is going way off the charts by now, but I promise I'm trying to put some sort of meaning in to this. I can't promise you'll be impressed, but I'm trying. I literally only had the first fifteen chapters of this story planned when I started writing way back when.**

**There are literally going to be only two more chapters after this one. **

**So other than that, tell me what you guys thought. And as always, thanks for reading.**

**~Banshee**

* * *

><p>Reviewer Responses<p>

PuellaMagiKuroMagica: yeah, I know. I sort of forgot that Homura's magic had changed when I started this story. Woops.

Psychoakuma: I can't say I'm terribly proud of my naming choice when it comes to the twins. But it's a bit too late now, don't you think?

FloydMayweather: let's just say a week in the desert with nothing but water and cabbage slices is a pretty bad trip.

ClickClackClickClack: me too.

The (Former) Review Virgin: I'm glad you're enjoying the story, and you aren't being creepy at all. Most writers love getting any sort of constructive feedback, I think. I hope you'll keep reading!


	35. Sea of Arrows

Chapter 35: Sea of Arrows

Kyouko both liked and hated trains.

The first time they had taken a train to Kazamino, it had been a time of crisis. They had ridden the gravity engines into what was effectively the great unknown, thinking that whatever they were to find at her hometown could very well kill them. But the ride back had been a peaceful one, a brief transitional period where Kyouko had actually looked forward to the coming days. To her, the train meant change. It meant movement from one state to another.

Maybe those gravity engines could take her out of her current hellhole.

She hadn't told Homura about the call. If the time traveler wasn't going to tell her where she ran off to every afternoon, she was far from obligated to reveal this current secret of hers. It was a petty thought and Kyouko knew it, but it was also one fueled by something bigger. No matter how much she loved someone, she couldn't be the one sitting idly by and waiting for something to happen. If character archetypes existed in the real world, she wouldn't be the complacent housewife between the two of them. Then again, neither would Homura.

Maybe that was why they always ran into so much trouble.

Besides, she was still grappling with the implications of the call herself. After Homura had left in the wake of her usual cryptic messages, Kyouko had wanted nothing more than to run to the nearest wall and break a chair against it. But she had been forced to swallow the primal urge when the phone rang, and she had unwillingly picked it up without checking the caller ID, thinking it was probably some telemarketer who lived a whole universe away from her own problems.

It wasn't a telemarketer.

It was Shizuki Kanade.

"Hello?'

_"Is this Sakura Kyouko?"_

"Who's this?"

_"A bearer of good news, hopefully."_

Kyouko sat up before leaning back into the couch cushions, by now recognizing the voice on the other end of the line. It had taken a moment, since she didn't know its owner very well. "I could use a little more of that. How are you, Shizuki-san?"

_"I think I should be the one asking you that." _Given what Kyouko new of the healer's personality, she sounded surprisingly amused. But there was a tinge of darkness too. _"I can't imagine you're feeling your best these days."_

Kyouko rattled out a sigh into the receiver. "No. I'm not. How'd you know?"

For some reason, she got the sense that Kanade was biting her lip. "_Well, the thing is...I called because I know. About Homura. About her soul. And I think I can help._"

The redhead hadn't known how she was supposed to react to that. It had been so long since her last inkling of hope that she had become unaccustomed to acknowledging it. She gripped the receiver hard for a few moments as her mind drew itself back together.

"...What do you mean?"

_"To be honest, it isn't something I can relay over the phone. Are you free tomorrow?"_

So here she was, on her second overnight train bound for her hometown. She briefly recalled her days as a street rat, how she had lacked the funds to take a train to Mitakihara during her first visit. She had had to walk, or carpool when she could. It had taken forever to get to the big city. And coincidentally, she had arrived just on time to run into Homura's calculating stare and cryptic words.

If she'd had enough money for a train, maybe none of this would have ever happened.

Kyouko raised her eyes to shield them from the morning sun; it might have been summer, but the air outside was still crisp. She had left the previous night, taking only a backpack with one change of clothes and other essentials (such as Pocky). She had also taken the time to write a brief note telling Homura she would be out of town for a day. She didn't specify why; the redhead just wanted to make sure Homura didn't tear apart all of Mitakihara looking for her.

Despite the friction between them lately, Kyouko still had the feeling Homura would do that for her.

A small light above her head dinged, telling all passengers that the train was about to arrive at the station. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and reshouldered her backpack, standing in front of the sliding doors. The air rushing by outside leaked in through the crack of the door, sending a brief chill down the redhead's spine. It was weird. It was June, but today felt like winter.

There was a gentle hum from below as the train's gravity engines cut out, and they hissed to a stop at the Kazamino train station. The place was as dreary and remote as she remembered it from last time. Didn't the city want visitors to look forward to their stay? Shaking her head, Kyouko waited for the sliding doors to part.

When they did, she was greeted with a surprise.

"Glad you could make it on time," Kanade said softly, plucking somewhat nervously at the sleeve of her coat. A cutting wind swept through the station, ruffling the girl's thin green hair. "Did you get here alright?"

"Yeah," Kyouko said, still a little too tired for extended conversation. She stepped off the train a moment too soon, barely making it onto the platform before the doors snapped shut. The train was gone an instant later, and then it was just the two of them and the rest of the whole, wide world.

Kyouko waited for Kanade to take the lead, but the healer seemed to be just as lost as her, looking around absently as she chewed on her lower lip.

"So…" she ventured at last, making the smaller girl start. "Why did you bring me here?"

Kanade blinked, seeming to come to herself at last. "Oh. Right. For now, please just follow me. We need to get to the Church."

"The Church?" Kyouko echoed, gripping the straps of her pack as she followed her friend off the platform. "What's there?"

Kanade paused in her steps, seeming to search for a genuine answer to the question.

"A brighter future, hopefully."

Kazamino had changed yet again since her last visit, and this time it was for the better. The air of fear and confusion that had seemed to grip the city like a vice had lifted; the ordinary citizens that populated the streets seemed more at ease and without worry. They probably didn't even understand why, completely unaware that outside forces beyond their control had finally made peace. It felt a lot more like home. _Her_ home.

Kanade filled her in on the details after they hailed a cab near the station, climbing in and giving the driver directions to the bottom of the hill that housed the Church. True to their word, the many factions had broken up and liquified into one aggregate pool of puella magi. While Homura had made sure to collect some of the spoils of the great battle, most of the Grief Seeds left over were given to everyone else. So many demons had been killed at the Church that there were enough Seeds to sustain everyone for a long time. The need to fight for territory was over.

Still, a good number of the magical girls in Kazamino had decided to leave the city behind for good. It seemed that a great many of them had only been sticking around because they lacked the independence to make it on their own. But with the recent influx in Grief Seeds, some had chosen to take their share and carve out their own path. As many as thirty girls had chosen this option.

"I'm guessing that's helped make this place a bit more stable," Kyouko said, propping her chin on her hand and staring out the window of the cab. She saw Kanade nod softly through the corner of her eye. The cab driver continued doing his job in silence, probably having heard stranger conversations in his backseat before.

"That's not all. A lot of them, particularly the faction leaders, have chosen to give magic up entirely. After fighting with it for so long, they were tired of being associated with their own wishes." The healer's voice grew more solemn. "They quit using their powers and instead disappeared into dormancy, using their share of Seeds to wean off what little grief they might accumulate. They'll make it a long time that way, but I don't know. It just doesn't feel right."

Kyouko smiled quietly, eyes closed. Her breath jetted out through her nose and fogged on the glass. "You've only contracted recently, haven't you?"

Kanade instinctively looked down in shame. "Yes. I was what the Incubators call a 'transient case'. That is, I knew about the existence of magic before I contracted. I had friends who decided to participate in the battle, you see, and…"

"You don't have to tell me," The redhead interrupted her, voice low and controlled. "I can guess the rest. That's how the rats do their business, after all."

The healer's voice trailed off at the interruption. Soon it was just the sound of crunching gravel and the wind whistling past outside. Kyouko kept her eyes closed for a little longer and wondered why it was so bloody cold on the same day she had chosen to leave Homura behind.

The cab drew to a stop, its engine putting softly.

"We're here," Kanade said in her gentlest voice, probably assuming the redhead was asleep. Kyouko roused herself and looked out the window, at the familiar spires of her childhood home.

"Oh, wow," she muttered at last, scrabbling for the door handle and popping it open. She jumped out of the car while Kanade paid, taking a few steps forward to get a better view. "You guys outdid yourselves."

The Sakura Church had been entirely restored during her absence. When she and the rest of her friends had left after the great battle, the building had been but a shell of its former self. The entire left wing had been a hollow, burned out skeleton, and half of the spires and collapsed in on themselves. Seiyaku had pledged to her that the entire place would be brand new the next time she saw it, but Kyouko had taken the promise with a big pinch of salt.

Thus her current surprise.

It was brand, spanking new.

"Keep in mind, this is only the outside," Kanade reminded her, walking up from behind as the cab trundled away down the hill. "Seiyaku prioritized the exterior to keep up appearances, since a burned out church isn't going to go unnoticed even by human eyes. The interior is still a little lackluster."

"Don't worry about it." Kyouko rubbed nervously at her face, feeling stupid for getting emotional over something like this. But the soaring towers, the gleaming paint, the utter _vibrance_ that the Church had reclaimed for itself...it was inspiring. Yes, that was word. She loved every bit of it. "Thank you so much."

The healer smiled happily, the picture of innocence. "We have a lot of homeless puella magi shacking up in there, anyways. We had other reasons for fixing it up. But you're welcome." She turned and started walking up the hill, long emerald tresses floating behind her.

"I'd like to thank Seiyaku too," Kyouko added, jogging to catch up. A stone path had been installed, snaking up the hill in a way that made the ascent much easier. "Is she around?"

Kanade stilled, face blanching. "...She is," she admitted, resuming her walk. "But I didn't exactly tell her you were coming."

"Why not?"

The healer began wringing her hands nervously. Kyouko almost felt bad for her. "Because then I'd have to explain what you're here for. And until everything is resolved, I think this is something that should be kept between as few people as possible."

"Speaking of which," the redhead cut in, hopping up another set of stones, "What am I here for? You've dragged me all the way here, Shizuki-san, and while I'm inclined to like you I'm not inclined to pointless ventures."

Kanade sighed, shoulders hunching like she held the entire hill on her shoulders. Finally they reached the top of the hill, and she turned to face the spear wielder.

"Like I said, I know about Homura's soul sickness," she began, fingers subconsciously fiddling with the hem of her pants. Kyouko found the subtle movement to be incredibly irritating, but said nothing for fear of stemming the flow of information. "I found out when Seiyaku and I came to visit."

"When you shook hands," Kyouko hypothesised, recalling the odd moment. It had never come up again, until now. The entire episode came flowing back into her brain, and her eyes widened. "Jesus, something really did happen between you two at the restaurant, didn't it?"

Kanade seemed to pale instinctively, but she nodded in affirmation.

"What?"

"She asked me to look into her soul. To find out what was wrong with her. I saw something incredible. And terrible."

"I already know," Kyouko rebuked, mouth going dry at the possibility that things could get even worse than they already seemed. "Her body is just weakening, right? Because of her soul?"

Kanade looked like she wanted to cry. She turned her back to Kyouko and started leading them to the looming walls of the Church, which were as large and ominous as ever.

"She's dying, Sakura-san."

* * *

><p>"Homura, wait!"<p>

She didn't pay the girl any mind. Her hand coiled around Four's wrist like a molten vice as she bolted her way through the streets, not even knowing where she was going, but fueled by the sole and pure desire to get the hell away from the horror she had just witnessed.

Homura didn't use any magic during her flight, but she was fit enough in her own right to leave the scene behind quickly. The screams of the man Four had saved and the subsequent wails of his wife's voice faded off into the ether, just another part of countless other human voices. Soon enough she couldn't even hear the wailing of the police sirens, and the composition of the buildings around them told her they were far from the fated intersection. But she kept running regardless, her heart inflicted with some irrational terror that the memory loss would jump from the man and infect her next if she wasn't quick enough.

"Homura. Homura, please!" Four dug her heels into the pavement and tugged on her mentor's arm as hard as her adolescent muscles would allow, and the time traveler finally regained her bearings. Or at least, enough to slow down to a stricken jog. Four kept pulling until the shield user was at a complete stop, breathing fast and hard despite the fact that she hadn't been doing the running. Homura stood silently on the pale sidewalk, staring down at the cracks between each stone and imagining her life falling out her chest and spilling through them.

It was brutally cold. Since when had the temperature dropped this much? Wasn't it hot and muggy just a moment ago? Four finally let go of Homura's hand and bent over to catch her breath. A few people stared at them in passing as a cutting wind swept through the road.

Looking up, she saw that her teacher was sitting on the stone steps that led up to someone's front door, arms balanced limply on her knees so that the hands flopped over them. Four bit her lip in concern. She had never seen Homura look like this before. Probably no one had, except maybe Kyouko.

Standing up, she walked in front of Homura and looked down at her. The time traveler didn't look up, instead burying her face in her hands.

"Why does it have to be this way?" she asked, so softly that the wind almost stole her words.

The child had absolutely nothing to say. Wasn't Homura supposed to be the one with all the answers?

"We don't know for sure if he lost his memory," Four ventured weakly, not even believing it herself. "He might have just been confused or disoriented-"

"Don't be stupid," Homura said roughly, fingers coiling more tightly against her forehead. "We both saw the same thing. His memories were obliterated. I should have known. Everything you've fixed up until now has always returned to its original state. I'm surprised that man hasn't been reduced to an oversized baby."

Four swallowed hard, almost without thinking. "I...I'm sorry."

"Why? It's not your fault."

She set her lip. "I know. But I'm sorry anyway."

Homura's head lowered until it was pressed against her knees, eyes still hidden. "It's fine. Just...just don't…"

She began to cry then, and Four was so far gone at this point that she could only sit beside her mentor and put her arms around her. She didn't really know how hugging worked yet, but she tried to transfer the affection she had felt during her embrace with Mishki to Homura. The time traveler cried quietly and bitterly, tears barely squeezing through eyes screwed shut, and Four lamented the realization that even in agony, her teacher was reserved.

Homura didn't cry for a long time, which was about what Four had expected. She wasn't the type to sit down and bemoan her own circumstances, even after something like this. That was something Four truly respected about her.

At last there was a moment where Homura shifted, pushing her pupil gently away from her as she wiped at her eyes. Four sat back and waited for her, hands folded across her lap as she stared out over the bare and empty street. She thought privately that she was glad that no one else was around. She wanted no one to witness her mentor's weakness. Even strangers.

"Four," Homura said at last, calling on the girl's attention. Her voice had changed, become more distorted somehow, as if yet another wall had been thrown up between her and everything else.

"Yes, Homura?"

"I want you to tell me everything you saw and felt while you were healing that man. And I want you to be honest."

The younger girl frowned. "Are you sure? I think you should take a little time and-"

"Yes I'm sure. Four, this is serious." At last Homura looked up, and she was taken aback by what she saw in the time traveler's eyes. It was the same ominous intensity that had been there when Homura proposed that they work together, but it was stronger somehow, closer to some unnamed brink that led to a deep and unfathomable abyss. Four looked into those pits and understood nothing, but came away with the sudden conviction that her teacher was not operating on a mentally stable foundation anymore.

Swallowing, she decided that the wisest course of action would be to appease Homura. There was no telling what would happen if she denied her request. Besides, what was the harm in telling the truth?

Turns out there was plenty, but she was too young to predict that.

"Okay," she sighed, rubbing at her face. "But let's go back home first, okay? Your apartment is closer than mine. Let's talk there." The temperature was continuing to drop, and although her smaller body was more susceptible to the cold, Four somehow felt more concern from Homura at the moment.

Homura pursed her lips and raised her hand, bringing attention to the fact that she was still transformed. Four hadn't even noticed. Then her eyes took in the gem set into the skin right above Homura's wrist, at the thin cloud of despair hugging its corners.

Then it was hidden, a flash of light changing the girl's body back to human form.

"Fine," Homura muttered, dusting herself off and heading towards her apartment.

* * *

><p>[<em>Let's try to keep to the shadows. You'll be easily recognized here.<em>]

Kyouko was following Kanade through the winding corridors of the Church, having pulled the hood of her jacket over her face to obscure its features. The healer's condition upon giving the redhead more answers was that she make an honest effort to keep her presence a secret. It pissed her off that she had to sneak through the halls of her own home, but it was necessary if she wanted to know the reasoning behind the girl's cryptic comment.

_"She's dying, Sakura-san."_

A small knot of girls passed by, chatting about something trivial. They were obviously puella magi, though they were in normal attire. Kyouko reached up and tugged the hem of her hood a little lower, turning her head the other way until they passed each other completely. Kanade's tensed up shoulders relaxed just slightly, though they remained nervous looking. The redhead didn't figure she did things like this very often.

[_I've fulfilled your request, Shizuki-san,_] Kyouko thought quietly, just in case there was a telepath within these walls. [_Don't you think it's about time for you to talk?_]

Kanade twitched slightly when she received the thought, an amateur mistake that betrayed her inexperience. Veterans usually learned to keep their body language unchanged when telepathing. They reached a narrow stairwell and began to climb, rising up in a tight spiral that told Kyouko they were heading towards the top of a spire.

[_Yes, I suppose you're right,_] she thought back. Her nervousness was evident even in her mind. [_I'm sorry to put you through all this._]

Kyouko could hear the faint din of other people talking through the walls of the stairwell. They had passed very few actual people on their way here, since Kanade had insisted that they use a side door that even she hadn't known about. She had only seen a few roaming groups of girls here and there, but the clamoring of voices that echoed through the halls betrayed the true number of the Church's residents. There were as many as fifty puella magi shacking up in here. And while she didn't particularly mind, it did make the place feel a little less familiar.

She tried to imagine that they were just here for Sunday service, even though it wasn't Sunday and she didn't really believe in a god anymore.

[_Akemi-san knew immediately that I had noticed something when we first met,_] Kanade said from ahead of her. [_You might remember that she escorted me to the bathroom at one point. That was when she, um...well, I don't want to say she _ambushed_ me, but…_]

[_Get to the point,_] Kyouko sighed.

Kanade gave off an apologetic vibe. [_She demanded an explanation from me, and ended up having me look into her soul. I didn't have much choice in the matter; she seemed very desperate._]

"Oh, no." Kyouko thought back to the various other times Homura had been "desperate." "She didn't hurt you, did she?"

They were far enough into the spire by now to speak freely without fear of being overheard. The healer unconsciously reached up and rubbed at her neck.

"Maybe a little."

"I'm sorry."

Kanade smiled meekly. "I don't hold it against her. She was under very excruciating circumstances."

"So...what did you find?" the redhead ventured, afraid to ask. They had been climbing for a while now. This was probably the highest tower in the building.

"Akemi-san's soul has several holes in it," Kanade replied, for once deciding to be straightforward. "When she destroyed the Radix, she absorbed the power of over two dozen souls into her body. Jamming that much energy into one catalyst damaged the vessel that is her Soul Gem. Essentially, her soul is leaking."

Kyouko inhaled deeply, closing her eyes as she coped with this new information. Their footsteps echoed hollowly against the stonework. "So that's what it was, this whole time? Is that why she took such a long time to wake up?"

"Yes. In fact, most people wouldn't have lived through that," Kanade said simply, reaching into her pockets for something. "It also explains why grief sharing was so therapeutic for her."

The redhead wrinkled her nose at the thought. "So it was like I was...plugging up the holes in her soul?"

"In essence."

"Then why won't she grief share with me anymore?" Kyouko asked angrily, even more confused now. "If it helps her, why won't she do it? It doesn't make any sense!"

But Kanade shook her head. "Grief sharing between two healthy souls is no problem. But when it comes to you and Homura, she is essentially _forcing_ her life force into your body, since it has nowhere else to go. Simply put, it's like stuffing two souls into one body. Rather similar to what happened to her at the Church, but on a smaller scale. Eventually you will begin suffering the same effects."

Kyouko's pupils dilated. So Homura had been trying to protect her? Even in her crippled state?

"I can't believe she would do something that stupid," she murmured.

Kanade smiled wanly. "She doesn't strike me as the type to rely on others."

No. No, she really wasn't. It hurt Kyouko to realize yet again that Homura had chosen to shoulder the burden alone. If the shield user kept doing that it was going to kill her. Homura probably knew it too, but thought it was preferable to letting Kyouko suffer in her stead. It was all awfully romantic, and Kyouko hated romantic things. Didn't Homura understand that there was no point to any of this if they couldn't spent their time together?

She felt Kanade go still ahead of her, and realized they had reached the top of the spire. Kanade fished a long key out of her pocket and slotted it into the thick wooden door sitting in front of her, pausing before she turned it in the lock.

"Don't worry. I didn't bring you here just to tell you that." she turned her wrist, and the lock clicked sharply. "I think...we might have a solution."

"We?" Kyouko echoed, following Kanade through the door.

"We," confirmed the third girl on the other side of the door.

Kyouko felt a wry smile inching up the corners of her mouth.

"How've you been, Thalia?"

* * *

><p>The door to Homura's apartment rattled open when Four kicked it aside, huffing as she practically dragged her mentor into the building. Homura had abruptly swooned during the walk home, and had had to rely on Four's shoulder for the remainder of the journey. It was the "soul sickness" that she so often referred to, but this was the first time the child was seeing any physical evidence of it.<p>

Homura was breathing heavily as she slipped out from Four's arm and flopped onto the couch, utterly exhausted. Four stopped to catch her breath before heading off to the kitchen, saying something about getting water. The shield user let her head list to the side, darkened eyes staring at the grandfather clock she had stupidly installed some years ago. It had just been on a whim, and now the damn thing didn't even tick anymore. Like a reminder that things done unplanned usually didn't work out, especially for her.

There was a small _click_, and the lights fixed to the ceiling came on, flooding her vision. Homura squinted and shielded her eyes and Four returned with the promised glass of water, handing it to her and sitting across from her. Homura took a ginger sip from the glass and swallowing, feeling sick when it hit her stomach. She set it down on the table and leaned forward, clasping her sweaty palms together.

"Alright, we're here," she rasped. "Now talk."

Four frowned. "Why did you suddenly get like this, Homura?"

"I told you. Expending magic accelerates the deterioration process."

Four pursed her lips. Homura stared back, eyes searching and accusatory. She was perfectly aware that Four was just a child, but right now she saw the girl as a way to get answers rather than a person.

"It was unlike anything I had ever experienced before," she said at last. "With the cups, I just had to imagine the finished product and guide the magic accordingly. But with an actual person...it's different. I felt like I had to open his soul, and my own, to do it. I was only imagining a repaired body, and not the memories that came along with it. I think...I think that's why he lost his memories."

Homura leaned back, narrowing her eyes. The lights were harsh and glaring, exposing everything. "Do you think it would be possible to retain those memories, somehow?"

Four shook her head without hesitation. "For that to happen, I would have to be able to picture every single relevant memory the person ever had, which is impossible."

"I see." Homura fell silent, consumed by her thoughts.

Four shifted nervously. "I know I promised to help you, Homura, but this is-"

"I know where we stand," she cut the younger girl off. "I comprehend the situation. I'm just...trying to figure out what to do next. I don't want to lose my memories either, okay?"

Four bit her lip and nodded, looking genuinely cowed for once. Homura ignored it and bit her thumb, chewing on it as she wracked her brain.

"Are you able to move while performing magic of that caliber?" she asked at last, eyes flicking up to the girl's face.

The child blinked.

"Surprisingly, no," she admitted. "It takes a lot of focus just to do the regular thing. I need to be completely stationary to do it. In fact, my body locks up on its own."

Homura nodded in acceptance. "That's all I wanted to know. I'll call Mishki and have her pick you up."

Four looked worried. "Will you be alright by yourself? Where's Kyouko?"

The time traveler's heart throbbed at the girl's mention. She had seen the note taped to the wall when she staggered past it, but had thought nothing of it until now. Out of town for a day? What for?

She didn't know, and she hated it.

It was made worse by the fact that it was entirely for own fault.

"I can take care of myself, Four. Don't you worry about me."

The young puella magi eyed her nervously.

"You are endlessly capable of anything, Homura. I know that. And that's why I'm afraid for you."

For a child of less than ten, she said some bone chilling things sometimes.

Mishki came in her car half an hour later, leaning against the door of the vehicle as Homura and Four walked out to meet her. The former guide ushered her daughter into the car and shut the door, before turning to face Homura.

"You two sure are staying out late these days," she remarked, sticking her hands into her pockets. "Is everything going alright?"

"Everything's fine. I'm sorry. It won't happen again," Homura said firmly, trying to fake a reassuring smile.

Mishki saw right through it. It was disrespectful of Homura to expect anything otherwise. "You're sweating. Are you sure you're fine?" She reached out with one hand and touched her cheek, and the shield user erupted into goosebumps at the touch. Mishki withdrew her hand, blinking in surprise.

"I'm fine," Homura insisted, glad that it was too dark by now for either of them to read each other's faces. Only the paltry stars above illuminated the city, because her block was dark and uninhabited. Her own lights were mostly off. If Mitakihara were a great glittering eye, her home would be the bottomless pit at the center of the iris. Present but unfathomable. All seeing but powerless to interfere. An eye for everything. One versus all.

Her against the world.

Smiling faintly, Mishki reached out again and patted Homura's head, a surprisingly motherly gesture.

"Alright, I'll trust you. Just remember that you can't conquer all of life's trials alone, okay? God made your other half for a reason."

Then she was gone, driving off down the street with Four peeking at her from the window the whole time. Then the car turned a corner and disappeared from sight, and it was Homura once again alone with the whole, wide world.

Maybe the sky wouldn't feel so vast if she had her other half with her. But that person could be anywhere, miles or leagues or mere yards away. Homura tilted her head back and gazed at the heavens.

It was funny, they were so fun to watch with a lover.

When she was alone, they looked like a sea of arrows pointed straight at her.

* * *

><p>"Why don't you have a seat?" Thalia suggested, waving a hand in front of her.<p>

There were no chairs in the tight, circular chamber atop the spire, so Kyouko just sat cross legged on the floor across from the Acolyte, putting her hands on her knees and leaning forward intently. Kanade leaned against the wall near the door and watched them, making it obvious that this was about Thalia, not her.

"Can't say I was expecting to see you again," the redhead said bluntly, not afraid of offending the other girl. She had always had the sneaking suspicion that they were rather alike, the two of them.

Thalia actually laughed, making it the first time Kyouko had heard that sound come out of her mouth. "Yeah, me neither. I'm sorry it had to be under circumstances like this."

Kyouko's eyes fell to the stone floor of the chamber, which was absolutely littered with mysterious looking carvings that looped around the edge of the room and tightened at its center. The markings looked strange and alien; the single window in the tower admitted a ray of cool sunshine, making the engravings cast wild shadows on the walls.

"Seiyaku uses this room to hold meetings concerning sensitive information," Thalia explained, catching Kyouko's look. She reached up and tugged at the band around her hair, letting her pale gray locks falls free. "Or whenever someone just wants a private moment with her. Only she and the other Buzzers have the key to this room."

"And Kanade," Kyouko guessed, smiling despite herself.

Thalia smirked at the healer standing behind them, who was looking away with a light blush on her face. "There are some perks to sleeping with the head honcho, I guess."

Kanade reddened badly and stared at the floor. Thalia shook her head, the smile melting off her face. Her serious expression came back rather quickly.

"Anyways, Seiyaku had this room enchanted to muffle voices. We can speak without being heard in here, hence the markings." She reached down and scratched at one of the grooves that arced past her thigh.

Kyouko followed the movement of the girl's finger. "And what, exactly, are we here to talk about?"

Thalia sighed heavily. She folded her arms across her chest and leaned forward. Kyouko thought she seemed strangely more mature. The wild, brazen tanker she had met all those months ago was still obviously there, but it seemed buried somehow, as if the girl had found a reason to change the way she acted. It made the redhead worry a little. People usually only changed because of love or tragedy.

"You see, I knew something was bothering Kanade when she got back from visiting your guys," Thalia began. "I've known her for a while, so I ended up needling the truth out of her. But I think she only really told me because I had been through something similar."

Kyouko's eyes narrowed. "Don't tell me your soul-"

"No, no." Thalia dismissed the speculation with a sharp cut of the hand. "Not me. But...someone very close to me. Do you happen to remember Kagami?"

Her voice wobbled just a tiny fraction at the name, but being with Homura had taught Kyouko to pay attention to minute details. She could already guess what had happened to Kagami.

"Of course I do."

"Yeah, well...you see, she really pushed herself while we were rebuild this place. I don't know if it was because she really regretted everything she had done until then, or if she just wanted to get her mind off of losing Tayoshi. She pushed herself to the absolute limit, and her soul suffered as a result." Thalia's eyes were clouded over, so that they were grayer than her hair.

"But you have plenty of Grief Seeds here, don't you?"

"That's the thing. She wouldn't accept them. No matter what we tried, she wouldn't take anything from us. She would work and go back to sleep, again and again every day. I managed to convince her to grief share with me on occasion to relieve the stress, but she wouldn't even consent to that very often."

Kyouko gulped, not liking the way this story was going.

"What happened to her?"

Thalia's nails dug deep into the floor markings. "I was walking in the courtyard when Kanade sent me a mental panic message. She was checking up on Kagami when she her soul suddenly started collapsing in on itself. Kanade is inexperienced; she didn't know what to do, even with her powers. I ran over as fast as I possibly could, and when I got there she was...spasming on the floor. I did the only thing I could think of. I grief shared with her."

Kanade was looking at the floor again, though it was for different reasons this time. She looked to be on the verge of tears. Kyouko didn't quite catch it, but she thought she felt Thalia send the healer a brief wave of forgiveness. Apparently the Acolyte didn't blame the younger puella magi for panicking.

Thalia was talking again.

"And then there was this moment - this single, flaring moment - where I felt something change. For just a split second, I felt Kagami's soul and mine coming together. Her soul's barriers were already destroyed from the collapsing, and I had opened my own, and for a second I thought our souls were going to become one. There were no walls between the two of us. Our existence wouldn't be cooperative, but _mutual_. Do you understand? We would be one and the same, yet retain awareness of ourselves. It happened so fast I barely noticed it. And then she was dead."

Kyouko inhaled sharply. Thalia smiled wryly.

"Yeah. It was just one moment. Only one. I wasn't fast enough, or maybe just not strong enough, to save her. Or maybe she was doomed the second she decided to stop purifying her soul. I don't know."

The redhead bit her lip, still grappling with the revelation. "I...I'm sorry."

"Thank you. That means a lot, coming from you. I know we caused you a lot of grief. But I've had my time to cope with the loss. She's in a better place now. She's with God."

Then the Acolyte leaned forward intently, eyes drilling into the redhead like cold spikes.

"But listen to me, Sakura-san, when I say that I will _never_ forget that split moment where we were one. In that instant, there was hope. I don't know if it is possible for two souls to meld into one another. I doubt there is any precedent for it. But I'm going to have it in the back of my mind until I'm dead in my grave too."

With that said, she clapped her hands onto her knees and stood up, giving Kyouko a curt nod of farewell before stalking out of the chamber. Kanade scooted aside as Thalia pulled the heavy door open and slipped through it, slamming it shut with a solid bang.

Kyouko didn't watch her go, not wanting to see the agonized looked on Thalia's face. It didn't fit her.

"I'm sorry she left like that," Kanade said softly, wiping at her own eyes as she sniffed loudly. "Talking about Kagami always gets her like that, to some extent. It's hard for her. She almost didn't come up here today."

"Then you can tell her I appreciate it," Kyouko murmured back, letting out a long, rattling breath. Kanade sat on the floor across from her, taking Thalia's spot. "So, is that it? Is that what you wanted me to hear?"

"There is one more thing." Kanade closed her eyes and inhaled deeply before continuing. "I'm assuming, given you closeness to Akemi-san, that you have heard of a Madoka Kaname."

So it had finally come to this. It always did, in the end. The neverending mystery of Homura's fictional-but-real goddess. Kyouko nodded quietly and waited for her to continue.

"When Tayoshi lay dying among the ruins of the Church, she spent her last conscious moments with Akemi Homura. In that time, she asked Akemi-san to tell her a story. That story was the tale of this Madoka Kaname." Kanade paused, fidgeting nervously with the hem of her shirt. "She probably wasn't aware of it, but Tayoshi recorded the story into a thought and sent it mentally to the other Acolytes. When those girls awakened, they had the story buried deep in their brains. It took a good while for them to resurface, mainly through odd recurring dreams, and thus they did not become fully aware of it until weeks later."

Kyouko pursed her lips. "So now everyone here knows about this goddess of sorts?" For some reason, it irked her that they might know while she didn't, when she had been thirsting for an answer for years.

Kanade shrugged. "Not necessarily. Thalia never chose to publicly broadcast it, but things get around. I was one of the few people she confided in completely, along with Seiyaku. The idea of there being some sort of god tailored specifically for magical girls is obviously a very popular one, and 'the Goddess' has a sort of cult following now in the Church."

Kyouko exhaled loudly and leaned back on her hands, the stone floor cool against her skin. "Alright, that's all fine and dandy, but who _is_ this Goddess? That's what I've been dying to know since like, forever."

"According to the story, the Goddess was apparently originally human. She was someone Akemi-san knew in a different time, one not like ours. There are many miscellaneous details we got through Tayoshi's memories that have been difficult to sort out, but the essence of the story is this: Madoka Kaname was a human who became a magical girl, and used her wish to rewrite the rules and give puella magi and better life. In doing so, her place in the material role was lost, and she ascended to the status of a 'concept.'"

"And how exactly did she rewrite the rules?" Kyouko asked, using air quotes. "I'd say being a magical girl is still a pretty shitty ordeal, if you ask me."

Kanade shrugged again. "That we don't know. Either Homura chose not to mention it, or Tayoshi forgot it. All we know is that the world was changed somehow when Madoka Kaname made her wish. Only Homura might know the truth, perhaps, though there is no guarantee. This entire story about a puella magi goddess may very well be fabrication. Or at least, that is what some people say. I believe it is real."

"And why is that?"

Kanade pushed her sleeves back and held her hands out, an uncharacteristically determined look on her face.

"That is what I am here to show you."

Kyouko searched the healer's face carefully. The girl rarely spoke with this kind of conviction. Whatever this was about, Kanade was serious.

"Okay." She took the girl's hands in her own. "Show me."

"Close your eyes," Kanade suggesting, doing the same herself. Her form glowed as she transformed, and Kyouko followed suit. "Relax your body, and your soul. This isn't grief sharing, but I need access for this. I am going to be sharing a vision with you."

Kyouko obeyed, letting her eyelids fall shut so that there was only blackness. She felt Kanade's consciousness expanding and pressing against her own, like a friendly cloud. She forced herself to relax, and their minds melded together. They both sighed in unison.

"This is the 'other' thing I saw when I looked into Homura's soul," Kanade said softly.

And so the vision began.

It was a wasteland. The world around her was torn and black, like a badly burned sheet of paper. Rubble everywhere, and the sky above her head was a suffocating gray. But she wasn't looking at any of that. No, her eyes were fixed on the massive thing floating in the sky.

She didn't know what it was, but she felt her heart hammering in her chest just from looking at it. It was a hideous, misshapen thing, some sort of cross between an umbrella and the massive innards of a clock. It was laughing maniacally in a woman's voice as it floated slowly through the air, tearing the world asunder in its wake.

She saw two small figures amongst the black debris, like two drops of color on a bleak canvas. One she immediately recognized as Homura, but the other she did not recognize, though the shock of pink hair and the small, doleful face seemed disturbingly familiar.

Homura was reached desperately for this girl, as if begging her to not do something.

The pink haired girl turned back and smiled apologetically, then said something to a small white animal sitting crouched nearby.

And the world changed.

Kyouko was elsewhere now, her body being pulled into the far reaches of space, and it was from this galactic theatre that she witnessed the rewriting of the universe. The laws of existence itself were unraveled and tied into new knots, and all around the world, the pink haired girl was saving the lives of thousands of souls by absorbing them into herself. Girls on the brink of death, girls whose souls were broken and cracked and pouring out of their bodies. They all resembled Homura in some way, but Madoka saved all of them.

Then the scene changed again, and she was surrounded by a swath of ethereal pink. She was watching Homura say goodbye to Madoka. It really was like seeing an apostle lament the departure of his god.

The pink thickened, and now she was in another bleak and barren city.

It was Mitakihara. Homura was walking alone through a vast, lonely desert, her wings floating languidly behind her.

She looked incredibly alone.

"That's the gist of it." Kanade's voice interrupted the illusion, and suddenly Kyouko was being pulled out of the healer's mind and into reality again, the vision fading away like colorful smoke escaping through the window.

Kyouko leaned back and blinked hard several times, still trying to get over the vividity of what she had just seen. Their surroundings had by now returned to normal, but she still saw the leaping contours of space and and brilliant shining of souls dancing across the walls, like they were imprinted on the backs of her eyeballs.

"I imagine it might have been a bit difficult to explain all that," Kanade resumed, having given the redhead a moment to recuperate. "For the most part, it was a reenactment of what I just told you."

"You got that out of Homura's head?" Kyouko murmured, eyes still dazed.

"Well, technically her soul, but yes," Kanade said hesitantly. "What you saw was what she saw, at some point in time unknown to us. I suppose you would have to ask her the find out. But it is extremely unlikely, given the vividity of these images, that Akemi-san's memories were fabricated in any way. This is why I genuinely believe her."

"So there is a God, after all."

"Yes."

Kyouko bit her lip. She felt like she should be more struck by this revelation, but her mind was still on Homura, and it wasn't like she had done anything in her life to enter the good graces of this so called goddess. Wherever she was, assuming she was omniscient in the traditional sense of godhood, Madoka Kaname probably didn't approve of her.

"But that isn't what I wanted to talk about. You remember the girls she saved?" Kanade's voice beckoned her attention back to the room.

"What was she doing? Absorbing them somehow?"

"Our understanding of that part of the vision relies entirely on Homura's interpretation. And that, it seems, is that the Goddess was literally taking the grief of every magical girl unto herself. In essence, she chose to shoulder all their sins. And she accomplished this by opening her own soul and melding it with the other puella magi."

"Just like Jesus," Kyouko murmured, feeling oddly disgusted.

"Just like Jesus," Kanade echoed, nodding. "But the important thing to take away from this is that there _is_ precedence for this soul-melding theory that Thalia proposed. The Goddess might be just that, a goddess, but she was a magical girl just like us beforehand, and an ordinary human even before that. It isn't unreasonable to think that the same rules that apply to us affected her as well."

Kyouko was pressing her face into her hands, head throbbing with the traffic of information. Her mind was still reeling from the vision, too. Kanade probably didn't know how to hold back on the magic yet.

"So, what exactly are you saying?" she asked, peeking at the healer through a crack in her fingers.

"What I'm saying is that this might be a way for you to save Homura's life. Her soul is never going to fix itself; like the human heart, it can't regenerate and become whole again. Thalia tried to save Kagami and failed, but the Goddess succeeded. It _is _possible. And if anyone should be trying to meld their soul with Homura's, it should be you," Kanade said, using one long breath to do so.

Kyouko stared at the floor as she thought about that, eyes fixed on the grooves snaking their way through the stone. Was it really alright for her to place faith in this new idea? It had been so long since she had genuinely believed something could work. Ever since Homura started complaining about her eyes hurting it had been one long, downward spiral that hadn't stopped. She wasn't using to being able to hope.

But she wanted to.

"Are there any guarantees that this will work?" Kyouko asked, voice subdued and cautious. "What if something even worse happens afterward? How do I even pull this off?"

Kanade smiled sympathetically. "I don't know, Kyouko. But this is the best I could do for you. I thought it would be better than having nothing at all. I don't want to see Homura lose herself either. Despite the way she treated me, I believe she's a good person. She told me she's more of a villain than a hero. But maybe she's the only one who sees herself that way."

"She is," Kyouko affirmed. "And because she thinks that way, it always has to be her against the world. Maybe she's never had this many people in her life who care about her before. But she always assumes her burdens are hers alone."

Something was changing inside of her. She had been irritated at Homura's habitual secrecy for a long time now. It had always been burning inside of her, this smoldering discontent, but time and depression had tamed the fire until now. Now she was angry. She was legitimately _mad_. Things couldn't sit this way anymore. Not with her.

Standing up, she walked over to Kanade and pulled her into a big bear hug. The healer squeaked in surprise but reciprocated a moment later, arms coming up to tentatively pat the redhead's shoulder.

"Thank you so much," Kyouko murmured. "Thank you for bringing me here. I needed this. I needed a reason to do something."

"You are very welcome," Kanade whispered back. Kyouko let go of her and stepped back. "Now go. There's nothing else for you to do here. We don't know how long Homura's body is going to hold up. You have to hurry."

Kyouko nodded firmly and ran towards the door, but stopped with her hand on the handle.

"I'll make Homura apologize after I save her. And then I'm buying you dinner."

Kanade smiled, for real this time.

"Sounds good."

The heavy wooden door was thrown open, and Kyouko ran to reclaim her future.

* * *

><p>Homura tried her best to sleep, but her mind was stricken with the dilemmas that crowded it, and her bed felt cold and empty without Kyouko beside her. As such, she lay awake until the creeping dawn.<p>

She thought the entire time.

It was going to be the biggest decision of her entire life. Even bigger than her choice to begin leaping back in time to save Madoka, perhaps. She had always sworn to herself that she was willing to sacrifice anything so that she and Kyouko might live out their days in peace. But the one thing she had never expected to come to the table was her memories.

If survivability was the only concern, then her choice was obvious. Four had singlehandedly proven that she was fully capable of fixing a living thing, at the expense of memory. If she chose that path, she was going to live. Puella magi would probably live very long and healthy lives if allowed to do so, given their superior composition. It was just misfortune that had cut their lives short in the past.

But it wasn't just survivability that she was considering here. Homura had now fully accepted the fact that some problems simply couldn't be solved by using a level head. There were emotional catches to this.

The subtle details of Kyouko's face, the knowing glint in her eyes. The way her body felt, the way she laughed, the way she smelled. Litrally every loving or spiteful conversation they had ever had in the last two years. All those things would be lost. Kiku's smile. Mami's worried expression. The loving face Mishki made towards Four, and the way the twin looked at her sister.

All tossed into the ether for the sake of longevity.

She could argue that losing her memories would erase her capacity to grieve over their loss. How could she lament the absence of something she had never known? But the mere thought of that even happening made her feel sick to the stomach.

She already did feel sick, actually, and she lacked the motivation to leave bed even when the sun rose and any idea of going sleep had been banished. Maybe, in the far distant future, Four would become experienced enough to be able to save someone's life without destroying their memories. But that time was not now, and Homura knew deep inside that her body wasn't going to cope like this much longer. It was a question of weeks or months, not years. At last, despite all her magic, despite all the times she had been able to retreat to her own pocket of space, she had run out of time.

If this had just been about her, she might have chosen to save herself. But this wasn't about her, was it? It was about the people she cared about. For once she would disregard her own safety. She thought about things from her loved ones' perspective, and though she was not vain, she knew they would all grieve terribly should she pass into the void so soon. For their sake, if not hers, should she not continue to live?

It was like a civil war within her own body. Homura was used to coming to conclusions quickly and acting promptly. Her was not a world where idleness was favored. Never had she agonized so thoroughly and for so long over a single decision. Even when she chose to go back in time, it had been an immediate decision. But this was entirely different.

But slowly, incrementally, she was able to use her logistics against themselves. Even if she lost her memories, she would live. Her livelihood would not suffer as a result. And if she and Kyouko could find love amongst the ruins of a snow marred city infested with demons, she was sure that they could fall for each other again under better circumstances. Perhaps it wouldn't be the same, perhaps Kyouko would miss the old days, but Homura would never have to know. Besides, it was better than nothing.

It took hours, it took forever, but at long last Homura decided on the ultimate choice of what she must do.

And once she did, she curled up into a ball under the blanket and cried for half an hour. It was horror, that she had to do this, but she was going to do it anyway. After weighing all the pros and cons, she had arrived at her conclusion. Homura was not the type of person to change her mind.

A cold cloud settled over her features, and for a little while the Homura of old was back.

She supposed then that it was time to start saying goodbye. Gritting her teeth and summoning some inkling of will out of nowhere, she crawled out of bed and staggered over to her desk. There she penned a long and rambling farewell note to Seiyaku and Kanade. It was meandering and pointless, and ranged in topic from how much she was going to miss them to how sorry she was to mistreating Kanade in the bathroom. Some time later she set her dry pen down and stared at the three scrawling pages she had written down, and forwent the urge to edit anything. She had laid her heart out on paper. This was as good as it was going to get.

She folded the letter and slipped it into an envelope, scribbling the names of its two intended recipients on the package. She wasn't going to send it, and instead left it on the kitchen table downstairs. Kyouko would find it and know what to do with it. The girl was resourceful like that.

She wrote another one for Mishki afterwards. For some reason it was shorter, and more to the point. Homura supposed she was simply running out of things to say. She reminisced briefly about the circumstances of their first meeting. That felt like so long ago. She thanked her for everything she had done for her and Kyouko. She thanked the guide for bringing the twins in their lives. She thanked Mishki for being Mishki.

And, finally, she thanked her for understanding.

Because she had the strange conviction that the older woman would.

Next Homura searched for an envelope to put the thing in, but for some reason there were no more where the first one had come from. She searched almost the entire house, breathing heavily as she did so, driven by some unfathomable need to treat each and every letter the same. Finally she rifled through her own closet in desperation, and paused when he finger hit the corner of something paperlike.

Pausing, she slowly pulled the mystery object out of a coat pocket, the same coat she had world during that ethereal night under the stars and the light of the festival.

It was an envelope. Homura stared at it for several seconds, holding the crumpled paper package in her hand for what felt like forever. She couldn't recall what this had ever been for. Whatever it was, it wasn't important right now. She stuffed it into her pocket and continued searching.

Ten minutes later she procured another envelope, an empty one this time. She slipped Mishki's note into it and left it beside Kanade and Seiyaku's. She was sure that they would find their readers. She was sure of it.

After that was done she sat at the kitchen table for several minutes, staring blankly at the two envelopes in front of her. It was weird, she was doing all this so she could keep living, but it felt almost too much like she was preparing to leave forever.

She was broken out of her stupor when her phone buzzed. It had been sitting in her pocket all day, but she hardly checked the thing anymore. The only things that ever got sent to it were the occasional text message from Kyouko, who rarely used it herself, or pointless emoticons from Kiku. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled the cell out of it, her fingers brushing against the crushed envelope buried beneath it.

It was a text message from Kiku, but this time there were no emoticons.

_Hey Homura, hey Kyouko! Just letting you guys know that the cafe is officially up and running! We won't be open for another week, but everything's finally set up. I know we've all been really busy with our our own stuff lately, but if you guys find the type to stop by please do!_

Busy with our own stuff. That was one way to put it. Homura felt a wry smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Kiku never failed the amuse her.

She hoped that wouldn't change.

Shutting the phone off, she went to grab a coat. There was no point in stalling. She had always believed in that. The only reason why she hadn't written Mami or Kiku a note was because she wanted to say goodbye to them personally.

Homura checked the clock as she went out. It was half past five in the morning. She wondered what Kiku was doing up at such a ridiculous hour.

Outside, the sun was rising on a new day.

She got to the cafe a little less than thirty minutes later. The address had been sent to her phone at some point in the past, but she had never noticed until now. There were a lot of things she tended to miss, attentive as she tried to be.

Homura had taken a cab to get here, lacking the motivation to walk all the way to the train station, or the energy. The cab driver had eyed her a little worriedly as she stumbled into the backseat, but said nothing for the first ten minutes of the drive. She ignored him and stared tiredly out the window. The sun wasn't visible over the horizon yet, but its light was painting the lower sphere of the sky a pale grayish blue. She thought it looked a bit like pale sand being washed away by the sea.

"You alright, missy?" The cab driver said at last, forcing eye contact with her through the rear view mirror. Homura flicked her eyes back at him.

"Just fine."

"If you say so, ma'am."

The cab dropped her off about fifteen minutes later, a block from the cafe. Homura paid the fare and made to exit the vehicle, and was about to walk wordlessly away when the driver called her attention again.

"You take care, you hear?"

He drove off after that, not waiting for a response.

_I'll try._

She walked the remaining block, even though her legs didn't want to. She wanted to remember this air, its texture, and the way downtown looked at the crack of dawn. It was silly, these things would all be here when she came back, but it still felt like she was saying goodbye to it all.

She supposed she was, in a sense.

Homura reached the front of the cafe then, and through the glass in the building's facade she saw them.

Mami and Kiku was laughing as they tidied up a series of chairs that surrounded neat, clean looking tables, throwing each other flirtatious glances as they did their work. It was such a common scene, straight out of literally anyone's life, but Homura found herself captivated by them. They didn't give a damn about anything. Briefly she wondered if Mami had ever accepted Kiku's feelings, but quickly realized that it didn't matter in the slightest. Whether they truly loved each other or not, they were happy.

Part of her almost turned around and walked back the way she came, if only to preserve what was happening here.

But it was too late. Kiku spotted her through the glass and began waving manically, rushing towards the door and popping it open. Homura sighed and walked up to meet her.

"Gosh, Homura! It's been so long!" Kiku leapt out into the crisp morning air, her breath billowing around the corners of her mouth and nose. She ran up and gave Homura a big hug, which the other girl tried her best to reciprocate, which mostly translated to a loose flapping of her arms.

"It's only been a week or two since I saw you," Homura rationalized, trying to hide the fact that the hug had crushed the wind out of her weak lungs.

"We'd been seeing each other less and less before that," Kiku pouted, crossing her arms. Homura couldn't help smiling.

"I suppose. I'm sorry."

The brunette flashed a wide smile. "Don't worry about it. You're here now! Oh, but I heard Kyouko's out of town. Mami heard from Mishki, or something. Where is she at?"

"Calm down, Kiku. She looks tired." Mami walked up behind her friend and bopped her lightly on the head. The girl smiled sheepishly and reached for the spot where Mami had tapped her, their fingers intertwining and playing with each other for a brief moment.

Homura caught this and felt an almost painful happiness.

"You've sure set up a big operation here," she said softly, leaning to the side and peering into the cafe through the glass. There were several rounded tables with colorful chairs, notably both green and yellow. The walls were painted in bright, spunky colors that looked washed out in the morning glow. The counter was pristine and unadorned, for now.

"Yeah. We just need to get all the supplies ready," Mami said. "We ordered a few preliminary things for testing before we stick to one formula."

"Hmm. Have you sold anything yet?" Homura asked, stifling a yawn.

Kiku laughed. "Of course not, silly. The banner still says "coming soon."

Oh, right. She wasn't thinking straight. Pulling an all night wasn't helping, either. "Then how about you make me your first customer?" She said, trying to offer a gamely smile.

"We'd be honored," Mami smiled back, apparently fooled. She left the door open and waltzed back inside, Kiku close behind. Homura followed more slowly, taking a seat at the table closest to the counter.

The other two girls disappeared behind a sort of wall, where Homura supposed they kept the materials. She heard subdued bickering on how best to prepare the coffee, which they apparently assumed was what Homura wanted. Or maybe that was the only thing they could make so far.

As she waited, Homura cupped her chin in one hand and stared outside. The streets were barren and clean. No one would be out at this hour. She was within the strange bubble of homeliness and security that one got from being alone in a place typically filled with people. Even with the door closed, she could tell it was crisp and cool outside. Fresh. The world was fresh.

She scratched her nail across the smooth, slippery surface of the table. Even that was clean.

"It's done~!" Kiku sang out abruptly, prancing back into sight with a big tray on one hand. A single ceramic mug of black coffee was steaming on top of it. The entire apparatus wobbled dangerously as the girl moved, and Homura began to quietly fear for the safety of her drink.

"Don't drop the thing," Mami chided, walking out toweling her wet hands. Kiku shrugged and set the tray down on the table, setting the mug in front of Homura. The shield user stared down at the steaming black liquid, her glasses fogging up momentarily. She looked up at the brunette and offered a genuine smile.

"Thank you, Kiku."

She blinked, somewhat surprised by the sincerity. "No problem. I hope you like it!"

"So, uh…" Homura tentatively picked up the coffee, holding it in front of her lips. "How much are you guys charging for this stuff?"

"Well, I don't know," Mami shrugged. "Why don't you try it and tell us how much it's worth?"

They all shared a laugh.

Closing her eyes, Homura tasted the coffee. Its hot warmth seeped into her tongue and down her throat, leaving a burning trail. She shivered as it warmed her entire body to the core, wrapping her fingers around the cup as she set it back down on the table. She felt mildly enthused with something foreign.

"I added a little rejuvenating illusion to the drink," Kiku professed. "You seemed a little ragged, like Mami said."

"I'm always ragged."

Kiku rolled her eyes. "Yeah, tell me about it."

"Hmph."

She continued sipping at the brew, watching Mami and Kiku as they chatted idly to each other. They seemed so much more comfortable around each other now. She thought back to the blessed scene she had seen before entering the cafe. That had been proof that these two would be just fine with or without her. They had each other, after all.

The thought comforted her.

"Still, it was a long road to get here," Mami sighed, staring up at the decorated ceiling. "There was a point where I thought this place was never going to happen."

"Well, it did," Kiku said, as-a-matter-of-factly. "And that's what matters. I plan to have a lot of fun running this place. It doesn't matter what happened in the past. It matters that we got here."

"Isn't that right?" Homura asked aloud, stirring the remainder of her coffee in the cup. She felt two pairs of eyes pointing towards her.

"Speaking of which, why were you up so early?" Mami asked.

"No matter what happens, this won't change, right?" Homura repeated, ignoring the question. "It doesn't matter how we got here. This...this can be forever, can't it?"

She knew they were exchanging glances out of her line of sight, but said nothing more, instead waiting for an answer. She needed one desperately.

"Of course it can," Kiku said at last, reaching over the table and squeezing her hand. "We're here, Homura. We made it. Now we just have to stay."

"Why are you hands shaking?" Mami asked, looking worried again. Homura shook her head and withdrew them from Kiku's grip, tilting her head back and downing the remainder of the coffee.

"It's nothing. Just the coffee working. I'm not used to taking it black."

"Oh, really? Then if you want-"

"Don't worry about it," Homura interrupted, making Mami go still in the middle of leaving the table. The blonde sat back down. "It's okay. New things aren't bad."

She wiped her mouth with a napkin and folded it once, setting it down beside the empty mug. Then she closed her eyes, because they were dry and burning from lack of sleep.

"You know, I've been thinking that I'm different lately. I don't know if it's a result of conscious effort or not. But I'm not the same as a used to be. Sometimes I look back at myself in the past and I can hardly recognize the person I see. There are things I think now that never would have crossed my mind then."

It was unlike Homura to ramble like this, and they all knew it. But no one interrupted her. And for once she was glad for it.

"I think I'm becoming someone new. The person I was a year ago was far removed from who I was even further back, too. I might turn into a different person entirely, you know, and sometimes I fear that those around me won't appreciate that change."

"We'll be here no matter who you become, Homura," Kiku said seriously, even if she didn't really understand what was going on. Because there was always something going on with Homura. "New you or old you, you're still our Homura. And we'll act according to that."

The time traveler smiled meekly at the words.

"Then try to be nice to the new me, okay? I'll try my best, too."

The two other girls both gave her surprisingly reassuring smiles.

"It's a deal."

Homura smiled and stood up, then surprised them yet again but opening her arms up for a hug. Kiku reacted first, pulling the shorter girl close and squeezing her tightly. She didn't know what was troubling her friend this time, but she closed her eyes and prayed silently that things would turn out alright.

Mami was second, and though her hug was more reserved, it was just as genuine. She pulled back and patted her longtime companion and now friend on the head. Homura looked curiously up at her.

"You've always been stronger than what life throws at you," she said. "So I trust you. New or old you."

Homura closed her eyes contentedly and caught the blonde off guard with another hug.

"Thank you."

She left shortly afterwards, waving goodbye at exactly six thirty in the morning. Mami and Kiku both waved back, but with slightly confused looks on their faces. Homura didn't blame them. But she was satisfied.

Things were going to be all right.

* * *

><p>Just as Homura reached for the front door of Mishki's apartment, the door swung open.<p>

"Oh! Homura. What are you doing here?" The guide was dressed in fully formal work attire, earrings and all.

"Just came by the check up on Four," she lied. "She seemed kind of tired yesterday."

"Yeah, she crawled right into bed and crashed," Mishki remembered, sitting down in front of the open door and slipping into a pair of heels. "I know I already told you two not to push yourselves too hard, so I won't repeat myself. You can go on ahead and see her if you'd like. I'm heading off for work."

"Okay," Homura said, as Mishki wiggled into her shoes and stood back up. They met eye to eye, standing quietly for a brief moment.

She had written Mishki her own letter because she had been planning for this to be a brief exchange. Showing any sentimentality might tip the guide off to her plans. But now, looking down at yet another person she considered to be her friend, Homura couldn't resist the desire to say something.

"I'm glad I met you, Mishki," Homura blurted out.

The older girl looked up at her, an eyebrow raised. "Oh? Well, the feeling is mutual, Homura."

She stepped out and ushered Homura into the apartment, so that they switched places.

"Make sure the twins have their breakfast while you're in there," she reminded, checking her watch. "I've really go to run. See you!"

"See you," was the only thing Homura could think of to say, raising one limp hand in farewell. There was so much more she wanted to say, but it all crowded on her tongue and died. Besides, it was probably better this way. No need in making Mishki worry.

She closed the door and locked it. The sound it made was ridiculously loud.

Turning around, she walked into the apartment.

"I didn't expect you to come here so early." Four was already awake when Homura walked into the twins' room, sitting up on the edge of her bed with her hands on either side of her.

"How long have you been up?" Homura closed the door quietly behind her, for fear of waking Five, who was still asleep.

"Not long. I felt your signature nearby and woke up." the child looked her mentor up and down. "So? Have you decided?"

Homura bit her lip.

"We're going through with it."

Four stared at her for a solid moment.

"Okay." She slipped off the bed and began to get dressed, pulling warmer clothes onto her thin frame.

Homura blinked. "You aren't against it?"

"I made you a promise," Four replied, sitting down to pull socks on. "And besides that, I trust you as my teacher. I assume you spent a good amount of time thinking about it. I understand that there are arguments for either choice, both moral and logical. If this is your choice, Homura...then I can only support it. You've given me too much for me to do otherwise."

She was standing in front of the time traveler fully clothed in a coat and long thick pants, geared and ready to go. There was a cold determination in her eyes that Homura remembered seeing elsewhere, every time she looked in the mirror. Again she marvelled at how alike the two of them were, right down to appearance. Only someone who had had the entire world as her enemy could possibly side with Homura so easily, and Four was exactly that person.

"Okay." She turned around and opened the door. "Let's go."

* * *

><p>Kyouko took the first overnight train back to Mitakihara, barely sleeping on the way back.<p>

When she woke up, the train was just about to stop at Mitakihara Station, at exactly six in the morning. The sun's light was crawling up from the abyss below the horizon when she leapt onto the platform, running out of the station and hailing the first taxi she saw. She gave hasty instructions that the driver thankfully understood, and sat panting heavily in the backseat from all the exertion. They pulled up in front of their apartment ten minutes later, and Kyouko slapped a whole wad of cash in front of the driver that was probably way too much, but she didn't care.

Jumping out of the car, she ran into the building and yelled Homura name only to find the apartment empty. Homura wasn't there. Panicking, she checked around for a note, then checked her phone, and it was then that she read the message about the cafe. There. Homura must be there.

She bolted out the door just as the cab was leaving, yelling at it to come back. The redhead climbed back in and gave directions to the cafe, which seemed to surprise the driver.

"What's wrong?" Kyouko asked, as the man changed gears and began to drive.

"Oh, nothing. Another young lady asked me to take her there earlier today, is all."

She dialed Homura's number multiple times during the drive, but the girl didn't pick up. Blowing hair out of her eyes in agitation, Kyouko fidgeted in the backseat. It was odd, there was no real time constraint here, but she was infested with the conviction that this absolutely could not wait.

They pulled up in front of the cafe and the driver told her she didn't have to pay, since she had apparently given him double the first time. Kyouko thanked him and leapt out of the vehicle, slamming the door shut behind her and running up to the glass door.

"Oh, Kyouko! You're back! How've you been?" Kiku called out from behind the counter, which she seemed to be wiping with a cloth.

"I'm fine. Where's Homura?" the redhead demanded, advancing up to the counter and slapping her hands on top of it for emphasis. Kiku squeaked in dismay when fingerprints got all over the recently cleaned glass.

"Jeez! First time seeing each other in so long and you ruin my cleaning job. You just missed her, Kyouko. She was here to visit a minute ago. Left to go do...who knows what, actually."

"She isn't answering her phone." An irrational panic was rising in her chest. She needed to find Homura _now_.

"Maybe she went back to sleep?" Kiku guessed, shrugging. Her casual attitude was doing major numbers on Kyouko's patience. "Actually she did seem kind of off today…"

"Hi Kyouko. Looking for Homura?" Mami asked, poking her head out from the kitchen.

"Yes," she said impatiently. "She isn't at home either. I-"

Her phone rang.

She answered it in a split second. Pressing the device to her ear so hard it hurt, she barked into the receiver, "Hello? Homura! Where-"

"_Hi, Kyouko._"

* * *

><p>Homura was standing at the bottom of a hill, the wind caressing her hair. The ground beneath her shoes was covered in lush, green grass that waved back and forth. The sky above her head was an innocent blue. In the distance, the lake that lay at the heart of Mitakihara rippled languidly, as if the city itself were slumbering.<p>

Looking up, she took in the expanse of green that led to the top of the hill that overlooked the lake. It was an unbroken stretch of grass until one saw Four sitting at the top, quietly meditating. She had instructed the twin to prepare herself while she waited.

Bending down, Homura pulled another claymore out of a storage portal and plunged it into the dirt. The black stuff sprayed and crumbled over her hands, but she hardly cared. Behind her, a dozen other mines were scattered around the base of the hill, arranged in such a way to prevent anything not human from charging up to the top.

In the case that someone caught wind of her plan, she wanted to take the necessary precautions.

While one hand reached for another mine, the other speed dialed Kyouko's number. She held the phone to her ear as she waited, quietly kicking dirt over the claymore to conceal it from the casual eye.

_"Hello? Homura! Where-"_

"Hi, Kyouko," she sighed, and there was something in her voice that made the redhead stop short. Taking a break from her work, Homura stood up straight and looked out over the lake.

"_Homura?_"

"The stars look beautiful, don't they?" she murmured, craning her neck to stare at the sky. It was that strange transitionary period where the sun, moon, and stars all shared the heavens together.

"_What are you talking about? Homura, where are you?_"

"I can't tell you where I am," she replied, voice catching slightly.

"_Why not?"_

"Kyouko, I've done a lot of thinking since you left. And I've decided things can't stay this way anymore. I have to do something, Kyouko, anything, before we lose everything we fought for. Do you understand what I'm saying? I have to do this. Even if you hate me for it, Kyouko, I have to. I need to do this because I love you."

_"Homura, what-"_

"I won't expect you to understand at first, Kyouko, but this is for the best, okay?" she was already crying, but she didn't care. This moment of weakness would be obliterated from her mind soon enough. "I love you, Kyouko. I love you so much. So I'm going to stay with you as long as I can, even if it means starting from scratch."

_"Homura, you're scaring me. What's going on? Where are-"_

She was going to chicken out. She could feel her will to do this seeping away like her soul with every word that came in through the speaker. She had to cut this off, quickly, before fear changed her mind.

"Goodbye, Kyouko. I'll see you soon."

_"HOMURA! I swear to Jesus Christ, I-"_

Homura shut her phone and crushed it beneath her heel.

[_I suppose you're all set, then?_] Four was standing at the top of the hill with her hands in her coat pockets, looking down at her mentor. Homura could almost see the conflicting emotions hiding behind the child's thin mask.

Turning around, she looked at the mine field she had set up between her and Kyouko. Then she began walking up the hill.

[_Let's just get this over with._]

* * *

><p><strong>This was actually done yesterday, but my browser was being shotty as hell and I couldn't upload it until now.<strong>

**Things are finally coming to a head. The next chapter will be the final one, which is crazy because it's been almost two years since I started this story.**

**Thanks to everyone who still reads this thing! I'll see you next time. Whenever that is. Because I never update.**

**Next one is the grande finale!**

**Whenever that is.**

**~Banshee**

* * *

><p>Reviewer Responses<p>

Psychoakuma: I'm sorry there's so much angst. It's all I know.

metalon: Hopefully I do finish this.


	36. Unum

Chapter 36: Unum

* * *

><p><em>Because all we are<em>

_Is everything we've done._

* * *

><p>Kyouko started screaming the second she heard the call disconnect.<p>

"Kyouko! Kyouko, what's wrong?" Kiku dropped her towel and ran out from behind the counter, trying to grab the redhead's shoulders and calm her down. But the taller girl threw her off and stumbled a step back, her lips and eyes going bone dry.

"Homura. Homura, she-"

"She _what?_ What is Homura doing?"

She didn't know. She had no fucking idea, and that was what made this so scary. Not knowing was one of the most painful and terrible things in the whole wide world, but with Homura it was always tenfold.

"I don't know," Kyouko shuddered out at last, feeling her arm hairs beginning to stand on end. She was sweating from running off the train, but she felt colder than a witch's heart. "But I have to find her."

Kiku narrowed her eyes, seeming to somehow understand the situation. "Do you have any idea of where she might be?"

The question crushed her heart like a hammer. "No."

"If only we had some way to track her…" Mami muttered to herself as she emerged from behind the kitchen wall, a dark look on her face. The three of them fell into a deep, tense silence.

Then it dawned on all of them at once.

"The compass thing!" Kyouko yelled, slapping the counter.

Kiku's eyes flared. "The one we used to find Homura in that abandoned shack?"

"Yes! Do you still have it?"

"Well, I never threw it away. I probably planned to keep it as a keepsake of sorts... " the brunette turned and looked helplessly at Mami, who had her chin in her hand.

"If it's one of your belongings, Kiku, then it's sitting somewhere in the back," the blonde said. "We haven't even started unpacking yet. It might be in one of those boxes."

Kyouko threw her phone aside and tore into the back room, Kiku in close pursuit. Mami ran to the front door to announce that the cafe was officially closed for today before following them both, rolling up her sleeves in the process.

There was a frenzied crashing as the three of them rummaged through Kiku's things for the next several minutes, tossing aside anything that wasn't liable to break easily. Kyouko searched the hardest of all them, tearing through the cardboard boxes like they were made of butter. Normally Mami would have reprimanded her, but in the wild chase to find Homura before she did something presumably horrible to herself, the blonde held her tongue.

"Found it!" Kyouko roared at last, rising up from a pile of cardboard corpses and holding something up in her hand. In it was a small, rounded glass vial, just the right size to contain the little piece of enchanted metal inside.

The steel rod was already rattling like made in its container, straining against its glass barriers in its never ending task to reach a certain time traveler.

"Oh, I remember now," Mami sighed. "I had to back that thing inside a wall of styrofoam to muffle all the rattling."

"Let's go!" Kyouko bounded past the two of them and slipped out into the anteroom, almost kicking the front door down in her haste to get moving. She heard her friends scrambling to keep up with her somewhere behind, but didn't bother taking the time to wait for them. She had to reach Homura _now._ Kyouko didn't know if it was paranoia, instinct, intuition or heavenly knowledge that fixed her with the pure belief that her lover was in danger, but she didn't question the notion for a single second.

Her feet hit the pavement as she ran up the length of the street, eyes fixed on the little makeshift compass in her hand. It was pointing north, away from downtown Mitakihara. The redhead could only think of one plausible location in that direction.

_The lake._

Kyouko's phone buzzed in her pocket, where she had shoved it after picking it up on her way out. She yanked it out and answered it without breaking stride, breath coming out in harsh, crystallizing gasps.

"Hello?!"

"_Kyouko! Where's Four?!"_

"Huh?"

"_Four's not home! I came back because I forgot my phone and I found Five all alone in the house! Is Homura there with you? Is she with Four? She was at my apartment this morning but she won't answer any of my calls. Kyouko, I-"_

"Wait, hold up!" Kyouko interrupted up Mishki angrily, pausing for a split moment to turn the corner. "Why was Homura at your apartment?"

"_Didn't you know? She's been helping Four control her restorative magic for the past few weeks...listen, Kyouko, are they there with you? I'm fine as long as they're together, but if Four's alone out there somewhere I…"_

The rest of Mishki's sentence faded off somewhere into the ether. Kyouko was still running, her legs were still moving and her lungs were still straining, but her mind was now lost in a far away place. Because everything had just fallen perfectly, horribly into place at long last.

"_Kyouko. Kyouko? Hello?"_

"Holy shit," the redhead murmured, closing the phone as she transformed.

* * *

><p>"You know," Four said quietly, "When you walked in on our base in Kazamino that one day I never expected I'd end up in this kind of position."<p>

_You don't say._ Homura thought, smiling wryly to herself. All the emotion in her soul had been drained by those few tears she had allowed herself to shed at the bottom of the hill. Still, she lacked the energy to voice her sarcasm.

"I'm sorry that I have to make you do this," she said. Four could only smile back, a pained expression on her face. They were sitting on the very top of the fated hill, with the space of but a few feet between them. A few feet and a patch of overgrown grass. That was all that stood between her and a blank slate.

"I'm not really the sentimental type. You know that," Four said. A slow wind breezed between them, mocking and almost caustic in the way it tried to steal the child's words. Behind them, the sun was rising ever so slowly behind the lake, beginning to paint the surface of the water an aggressive, sparkling white. But the sky was still black, and the moon still shone, as if the heavens were engaged in a civil war.

"But," she continued, raising one delicate looking finger, "I want you to know that I'm so thankful for everything you've done for me. From being my teacher, to being Mishki's friend, to being Five's friend. For being _my_ friend."

Homura smiled genuinely this time, even as the heavy sickness in her stomach seemed to double in intensity. "We'll always be friends, Four. Because we understand each other."

Her student blinked. "If you forget how to use your magic too, maybe I'll be the teacher for once, eh?"

They both shared a dry laugh. Yes, it was best to think of it that way. That there were more things to look forward to than things to miss. Indeed, this was for the best. Homura was making the right choice. She had already known that.

Yet she felt so cold.

Their laughter died down, and a serious expression dominated Four's face again.

"Did you say goodbye to Sakura-san?" she asked softly. The stars above her head winked, as if to say that they, too, wished to know.

Homura sank her fingers into the thick tufts of grass by her knee. "I tried."

Surprisingly, Four just nodded in understanding.

"That's just how it works, sometimes."

That being said, the child closed her eyes and inhaled long and deep, taking in the essence of the lake, the stars, the sun, the clouds, the suffering girl in front of her.

"I can't give a one hundred percent guarantee that this will work," she said. "I can heal physical injuries, undoubtedly, but this is a manipulation of the soul. Aside from the chances of success, other unpredictable phenomena may occur. I'll be immobilized during the spell, so I won't be able to protect you if anything goes wrong."

"I understand," Homura whispered. Four nodded.

A black light, familiar at this point, encircled the child's body and changed her form. The usual circlet manifested itself around Four's brow, the angry dark diamond in its center flaring with a visceral light. Homura made sure to keep her eyes on the Soul Gem the entire time. Within those fractured black holes lay the obliteration of her memory.

Four breathed in again, summoning her magic in one swift move. A smooth band of energy appeared around the girl's hands, snaking around her wrists like it was alive. It gave off a latent glow that bathed both their faces, casting wild shadows where should have been none. The wind swept through them again, and Homura imagined that the world itself were shivering along with her.

"Are you ready?" Four asked. The question sounded almost comical, and Homura had to resist the urge to actually laugh. Ready? How the hell was she supposed to answer something like that?

Raising her head and meeting her now former student's eyes, Homura said, "I'm going to miss being the only one who knows you this well."

A few tears sprang to Four's eyes.

"You won't forget. I'm sure of it," she whispered.

She lowered her hands, and the soft black light shot forth and impacted Homura's chest. The time traveler gasped and threw her head back, her body snapping so fast that for a moment the line from her neck to her chin was a straight line. The black light erupted upon contact, expanding to consume her entire body, even snaking down to burrow into the dark purple Soul Gem embedded in the girl's hand.

As Homura spasmed in front of her, Four closed her eyes and willed her heart to still. She could feel her own grip on consciousness slipping away. In a few moments she would be immobile, leaving everything else to fate.

She could only hope that this time it would be kinder to the both of them.

"Goodbye, Akemi Homura," Four said. "May you find happiness in this life and the next."

_Goodbye, Kyouko,_ Homura thought as she saw Four's head go limp. _I love you._

* * *

><p>[<em>Kyouko! Kyouko, wait!<em>]

Kyouko ignored her friends completely, instead choosing to focus on leaping from building to building as fast as she could. Roof tiles cracked and exploded beneath the weight of her haste, but the redhead paid this no mind as she flew across the skyline of Mitakihara, heading towards the one place one her mind at the moment.

[_Kyouko, just what is going on?_]

Turning in midair, the redhead stared irritably at the two puella magi following behind her. Kiku and Mami had both transformed upon seeing her leap atop the nearest building, but they were just a little bit slower than her. Kiku because she wasn't as used to roof jumping, and Mami because she didn't have the gall to leave the brunette behind.

Gritting her teeth, she decided to allow them to catch up to her. Propelling herself high into the air, she landed on top of the spire of a clock tower, hanging onto the long needle that protruded from the tower's head with one arm. The harsh winds made her coattails flap around like crazy, but she ignored them as she thought agitatedly that an apple or two would have been really handy right now.

[_Look, this is going to sound really crazy,_] Kyouko relayed back to the rapidly approaching girls, [_But I think Homura's going to try and use Four to restore her soul._]

[_How do you know that?_] Mami asked, nearing the clock tower.

[_Mishki just called me. Said that Homura's been taking Four out for a while now, helping her to control her powers._]

Mami leapt high and joined Kyouko at the spire, with Kiku following shortly afterward with less grace.

"So you're saying she might have had an ulterior motive?" the blonde asked, reaching up to shield her ringlets from the wind.

"Maybe. We don't know for sure," Kyouko replied impatiently, her own crimson mane whipping out behind her. "But I do know that messing with your soul like that is probably dangerous. We need to find Homura immediately-"

The redhead was cut off as a deep _boom_ erupted from somewhere behind her. Whirling around, her irises shrank when she saw a massive column of black light arcing out towards the sky, long lines of dark electricity running along its length. Her eyes followed the black tower down to where it had originated, to the solid swirling ball of black magic that was steadily growing just beside the lake.

"Is that...is that Homura?" Kiku whispered, clutching at Mami's sleeve.

"It's got to be," Kyouko whispered, letting go of the spire.

She pushed off with just enough force to propel her to the nearest rooftop, feeling Mami and Kiku moving behind her. She landed hard on top of a library far below, then broke into a full sprint, keeping her eyes fixed on the black tower of light the entire time.

Somewhere in the middle of that lightless monstrosity, Homura was there. As Kyouko leapt across a gap between two buildings, she thought that seeing her own face was probably what the time traveler wanted least right now. But she wasn't going to let Homura take on the world by herself anymore, whether she liked it or not.

"What are you gonna do when you get there?!" Kiku shouted after her, and Kyouko heard the question but did not respond. The invariable truth was that she had no idea. But she was running anyway. Because she had to. Love tended to do that to a person.

The buildings thinned and ultimately disappeared, giving way to a vast grove of trees. Kyouko leapt forward and dove into the upper canopy of thickly bristled pines, calling up a crimson shield to protect her face as she crashed through a solid wall of branches and needles. She broke through the foliage and fell straight towards the soft earthen floor, her shield crashing into the ground and driving a deep indent into the dirt. She dispelled the barrier and continued running, following the sounds of burning magic. Kiku and Mami dove through the hole in the canopy Kyouko had opened for them.

The trees were thick and clustered here, and Kyouko couldn't see past them to the hill. There was only the dull roar of the black sphere manifesting itself somewhere beyond the treeline, and the wind that was howling around her ears, as if agitated by what was taking place here. She forced herself to run even faster, lungs heaving and legs sparking with bursts of raw magic.

The pines crowded even closer together, as if to prevent her progress. The leaves and branches around her were swaying in the wind as dirt flew through the air in clumps. Kyouko snarled and swept her spear in front of her like a reaper, tearing through the natural barriers in her way.

With one final choked cry, she toppled a massive pine and broke out of the tree line.

What she saw there made her heart stop.

A great big hill was soaring high above her head, the long grasses that covered it rippling violently in the storm winds. At the top was the black sphere, a twisting, impossible mass of raw magic surging in on itself in endless circles. It was so thick that Kyouko could barely see what was going on inside, but she could just make out the silhouettes of two small girls sitting across from each other.

"Oh, god," Kiku murmured, as she and Mami finally made it out of the woods behind her. The beam of light rising up and penetrating the sky surged and grew even wider, rings of excess energy flying up its length. The very air around them seemed to be vibrating, and the little rocks that littered the lakebed shivered in place.

Kiku saw it and thought that it looked like the end of the world.

"Homura!" Kyouko screamed, lifting her spear and charging towards the hill. No one told her to wait, because all of them felt the inexplicable need to interfere with this phenomenon as soon as possible. The three of them were just reaching the base of the hill, Kyouko squarely in the lead, when the redhead abruptly balked and raised both arms above her head.

Two explosions ripped into them from both sides, as the twin claymores that Homura had planted beneath the dirt were tripped and detonated. A thick plume of smoke and flaming dirt and rocks engulfed them in an instant, the debris being whipped around by the hideous wind.

When the smoke cleared a moment later, Kyouko was standing with one hand above her head, a flickering red barrier extending from her fingers and enclosing all three of them. Small rocks and flecks of dirt and grass carried by the wind collided into it, fizzling out of existence when they made contact with the redhead's magic.

"What in the world is going on!" Mami yelled over the wind. Kyouko just held her other hand up to silence her, as above them the sphere flared again, and this time something inside moved.

[_Don't try to stop me, Kyouko!_]

The black silhouette of Akemi Homura arose into their field of vision, as the time traveler summoned the strength to stand and face them. She staggered slowly to the very edge of the sphere, looking down at them with a black face that had only two twin lights burning where the eyes should have been, her mane of hair flowing behind her like a dark flame.

[_Don't try to stop me,_] the silhouette moaned again, swaying limply back and forth in the wind. [_Don't make this hurt any more than it already does. It has to be this way, Kyouko. I promise this way is for the best. This way, I can live._]

"At what cost!" Kyouko screamed back up at the caricature of her lover, fingers gripping the shaft of her spear so hard they turned white. Her voice was stolen immediately by the tornado-like winds that had completely swallowed the hill by now, but somehow the silhouette seemed to understand her.

[_At the cost of memory. At the cost of experience._] The silhouette didn't have face, but it seemed to smile. [_But that's fine. Those things can be replaced, given time. But you only get one life. And I intend to spend all of it with you._]

"God damn it!" Kyouko shielded her eyes and attempted to take a step forward, only to have another mine explode against the front of her barrier. The redhead swore as she had to throw everything into keeping the shield up, because even the wind seemed to be fighting her now, tearing at her defenses like it was enraged that she would even think to question the spectre standing atop the hill.

Gritting her teeth, Kyouko looked back up, just in time to see an arrow being pointed straight at her.

[_It ends here, Kyouko,_] the silhouette said from behind the black arrow she had pulled back, cocked and ready to fly. The twin lights in the girl's face seemed to burn brighter than ever. [_Either stand still or leave. Otherwise this arrow will fly._]

"Homura…" Kiku whispered from inside the barrier, falling to her knees with tears welling in her eyes. She held her hands up to her face, as if she wanted to bury them together. "When you said you wanted us to love the new you...this wasn't what I thought...oh, Homura…"

The brunette lowered her head and began to cry, and Mami bent down to comfort her. But Kyouko did not move. She stood completely still, legs shoulder length apart and her spear plunged into the dirt pointing forward. She was the only one who didn't lower her head, because her blood red eyes were boring holes into the colorless figure standing atop the hill, holding them all hostage with a single arrow.

What was it about this image that enraged her so? Was it the twisting winds, the pines bending underneath them, or the small fires smoldering in the grass around them in the aftermath of the mines? No. No, it wasn't any of that. The only thing about the figure standing atop the hill, in all its moral and magical glory, was that it stood alone. Akemi Homura was standing alone.

And that was something she simply could not accept.

"Mami," Kyouko murmured, "Get Kiku out of here."

The blonde bared her teeth. "We aren't leaving you."

"And I'm not asking you to," Kyouko replied bluntly. Twirling her spear, she planted it firmly into the ground. Her head turned to make eye contact with the blonde, who inhaled sharply when she saw the fire burning there.

"Tell Kiku to get to the other side of the hill. I have a plan."

* * *

><p>In this little world she had created for herself, she was alone.<p>

Homura didn't know that she looked like nothing more than a black outline from the outside of the sphere, but the truth was that she looked no different on the inside either. When she looked down her arms, her legs, even the smoldering bow in her hands had turned pitch black. An empty void, perhaps soon to be filled.

She could feel her memories slipping away already. Random little thoughts, tidbits and images from her long and arduous past, were breaking free from her soul and flying out to join the swirling vortex all around her. In the walls of the black sphere she could see all of her loved ones' faces filtering upwards until they were blasted into the sky. The wind was screaming in her ears, the grass lashed at her ankles, and her heart wept silently as Homura kept her midnight tipped arrow trained on the red barrier at the base of the hill.

_To the bitter end, the two of us butt heads,_ Homura thought with a wry smile. A huge plume of dust was swirling around Kyouko's shield, as if the girl were ravaging the earth in her anger. She could hardly see the redhead through it. Homura wondered if she would wake up to find that Kyouko still hated her. Would her lover direct any anger towards someone who knew nothing?

Beside her, Four was slumped over onto the grass, her arms sprawled out over her head. Her heavy coat was rippling in the wind. The dozen Grief Seeds she had shoved into her pocket were working overtime to absorb the massive amounts of despair that were accumulating around them. Inside of her own chest Homura could feel the tendrils of Four's magic grabbing her soul and forcing the holes closed. Her memories destroyed, one by one. It wasn't unlike the time Tayoshi had attempted to eat her soul. Homura's entire being was open to the air, as the black mass that had been her essence was exposed for the world to see.

She had never felt more vulnerable in her life.

Something dark and heavy tugged at the corners of Homura's consciousness, and she knew she was going to black out soon. Her grip on the bow was swaying gently back and forth. As her eyes began to droop closed, Homura grip on the arrow went slack.

It was then that the impossible happened.

Something erupted through the barrier behind her, and suddenly Sakura Kyouko was bounding across the crest of the hill towards them, spear held high above her head, mouth screaming bloody murder. Before Homura could even react, the redhead dove straight for Four's paralyzed body and brought the spear down on her fragile frame.

"NO!" Homura screamed, firing the arrow. It missed and wizzed past Kyouko's head, colliding into the wall of the black sphere and exploding. A thick wave of heat rolled into her face as she threw the bow down and charged across the grass, diving straight for the redhead's midsection.

Kyouko's body fizzled and froze as Homura passed right through it like a ghost.

The time traveler's eyes went wide as she flew straight through the redhead's stomach and rolled to the edge of the black sphere, a cloud of flaming debris raining down around here from where the arrow had detonated. One horrified eye took in the sight of the Kyouko-illusion as it cracked and shattered into a million different specks of green glass, the telltale sign of a certain brunette's magic.

"Right now! Hurry!" Kyouko barked behind her, one hand tugging the yellow ribbon tied around her waist as taut as possible.

"Here goes nothing!" Mami yelled as she gripped her own end of the ribbon. Rearing back, she swung the magic rope behind her as hard as she could. Kyouko was lifted clear off her feet as the blonde began spinning her like the end of a lasso in the air. The redhead covered her eyes and kept her barrier around her as she felt herself gaining momentum, the entire world spinning perilously around her.

"YAHHH!" Mami yelled, planting her foot and launching every muscle in her body forward. The ribbon snapped taut and yanked Kyouko forward, and suddenly she was being thrown forward at an incredible speed, so fast that even the winds could not stop her. At the very apex of her flight, the redhead's spear lashed out and cut the yellow rope, and now she was hurtling up the hill at lightning speed, arms flailing like mad as she felt her body crashing into the wall of the black sphere-

-and now she was tumbling across burning grass on the other side, her shield dissipating as her spear flew out of her hand and slid off the side of the hill. Grabbing onto a tuft of grass to stop herself and looking up, Kyouko's eyes locked immediately on Homura's small, black form, the very same moment that the time traveler was watching Kiku's illusion shatter into a myriad of pieces.

Screaming the girl's name, Kyouko began to charge.

Homura's eyes went wide and she scrambled backward when she saw the redhead coming straight at her, hastily trying to summon another bow and arrow to defend herself. Suddenly it was another race against time as Kyouko bared her teeth and ran faster, a new bow materialized in the shield user's hand, and in one swift movement she drew it back and aimed for the redhead's knee-

Kyouko roared as the black arrow pierced the flesh just above her ankle, pitching forward as her entire right leg buckled from the sudden injury. She grabbed Homura around the waist and dragged them both down to the grass, where they immediately began to wrestle, fists flying and fingers scrabbling. Kyouko was blinded by the stream of light pouring out of Homura's chest, but she was physically stronger and her experience in hand to hand combat could not be matched. Soon Homura's flailing arms were pinned to the grass and her chest was exposed, her gaping wide soul was exposed-

Kyouko grabbed Homura and pulled her into a crushing hug, and their souls met each other for what felt like the first time.

She heard Homura scream into her ear, and suddenly a blinding light was erupting from between them, reaching out and engulfing them faster than either of them could react. Her Soul Gem flared a great, brilliant red, and suddenly the sky was painted a radiant mosaic of red, purple, and pure, pure white.

The light grew stronger with every passing moment, the wind was howling at them and tearing the entire hill apart, and the ground shook as if the earth itself were afraid for its life. And amid all the terror, amid the calamity and the confusion and the anguish, Kyouko wrapped her arms around Homura and hugged her as tight as she could, dominated only by a single thought that had been burning in her heart since the day they had met.

_I don't want you to be alone anymore._

Outside, the black sphere had turned a gleaming white, and Kiku gasped when it suddenly exploded outwards. It swept through the pines and swallowed the entire city. Now the light was everywhere, consuming everything, burning the grass and the hill and the lake and the very sky above them…

The light enveloped everything, and the world became so white that even a certain Goddess could see it from her perch amongst the heavens.

And if she were to peer closer, she would have seen two brightly colored flames becoming one.

But she would have had only a moment to look, because soon the light was bright enough to blind the greatest of gods.

And thus the world changed.

* * *

><p>A small crow was flying across the lake when it saw the aftermath of a great calamity.<p>

Being just a mere crow, the bird obviously could not comprehend what had taken place here. He could only see the calm waves from the lake that lapped the shore, and the singed pebbles that dotted its banks. From his position in the sky he saw a great hill that was quietly smoldering with little fires. The spot at the very top of the hill seemed to be almost entirely devoid of life, as if God himself had smote the one place in particular. The tops of the pines in the forest were burned or still burning for a mile in every direction, and the ones closest to the hill were but charred black skeletons.

Curious, the crow flapped his wings and dove down towards the crest of the hill for a flyby. Thin columns of smoke rose steadily from the area, thickening the air and making it easy for him to hover in place for a brief moment. It seemed that he had been wrong; two small figures lay curled next to each other atop the hill, the only living things in a circle of death and desolation.

The bird's sharp beady eyes picked up a small slip of paper clutched in one of the girl's hands. It was held in an awkward manner, as if the girl had fallen unconscious while attempting to pull it out of her pocket. The edges were singed, but the message scribbled onto the paper was still wholly intact.

Unfortunately bird can not read, and this particular crow chose to turn tail and fly somewhere else in search of a nesting spot. But if there were to be a world where common crows were literate, here is a little bit of what the letter would have said:

_Dear me,_

_Today, I made a promise. _

_I made a promise to always stay by the side of those I love._

_Because as horrible as they can be, people need each other._

_And no one conquers the world alone._

* * *

><p>When Homura opened her eyes, she found herself sitting in the middle of a vast field of flowers.<p>

Looking down, she saw that she was seated in a small white chair. Her hands were folded neatly across her lap, and though she could not move, she lacked the desire to do so anyway. She felt content sitting here like this, among the neverending stretches of multicolored roses and lilies. The sky above her head was a pure baby blue, with only the occasional wisp of cloud. Somewhere beyond her field of vision, the day bird were chirping. The air smells of fragrance.

It was paradise.

"You're a real troublemaker, you know that?"

Homura turned her head, and for the first time she was allowed to look Madoka square in the face.

The Goddess didn't look like much of one. In fact, the petite girl was sitting beside Homura in a little white chair of her own, dressed in the familiar school uniform. Her pink locks were tied up in the usual twin tails, and her eyes were as demure and innocent as Homura remembered. For one terrifying moment she wondered if everything had been a dream.

"Trouble is my middle name," she murmured back, as a sweet breeze caressed her hair.

Madoka giggled, and somehow the spell was broken. No, this hadn't all been a dream.

"That sounds like something Kyouko would say," the pinkette smile behind her hand. That beloved smile. It tugged another onto Homura's own face, and for a moment she remembered how much she had loved and adored this girl at a certain point in her life.

"I suppose." Homura kept the smile on her face as she looked back out at the flowers, trying to see where they ended. They didn't seem to end at all. It was just lush green and smooth, blue sky forever.

"I tried to create a calming scene for you. You've been through a lot today, right?" Madoka said, looking at the scenery herself. Homura eyed the girl discreetly. There was a certain confidence in Madoka's actions that didn't feel familiar. Indeed, this wasn't the same girl she had known in the past.

No, this certainly wasn't a dream.

"Am I dead?" It occurred to Homura immediately afterwards that she seemed to ask that question a lot, especially to Madoka. But it was a high priority inquiry, wasn't it?

The Goddess sighed, stroking at one of her hair ties absentmindedly. "Thankfully, no. You're still alive. But I've never come closer to taking someone through the Cycle before. Only you could put your own soul through so much and somehow come out of it unscathed."

Homura stared down at her hands, which were soft and flawless where they should have been burned and scarred. "What happened to me?"

Madoka exhaled slowly through her nose, closing her eyes for a brief moment. The flower grove rustled quietly around them in agreement. Somewhere out there the birds went silent.

"It's hard to say exactly. You never know for sure when it comes to us magical girls." she offered a small smile. "But...she saved you, Homura-chan. Somehow, she introduced her own soul into yours and managed to meld them together. An incredible feat in itself. In fact, it was rather similar to the way I absorb the grief of other puella magi."

Homura blinked. "Meld? As in...we're sharing the same soul now?"

"In essence." The Goddess shrugged. "I'm still trying to figure it out myself. I'm just a concept, you know? I don't know everything. But I do know that you aren't sick anymore, Homura. Your souls are now in eternal matrimony, inhabiting both your bodies simultaneously. You and Kyouko are now one and the same."

Homura kept staring down at herself. "How is that even possible?" she whispered.

Madoka shook her head. "It's hard to say. Neither of you are concepts yourselves, like me. But I imagine it has something to do with the fact that your soul was pulled open by Four's magic. That and a whole lot of love."

The pinkette fell silent as her friend sat there wordlessly, struggling to understand what had taken place. Then something else occurred to her.

"So you _were_ watching. The whole time?"

Madoka smiled. "I made you a promise, Homura. Whether you know I'm there or not, I'm always watching over you. You're my best friend, after all."

The time traveler looked away. "Then you must have seen all the terrible things I've done."

"I did. And I don't care," Madoka assured her, reaching out a touching her shoulder. Homura looked at the point where they made contact, wondering if that was real too. "You did what you felt was the best thing to do. I can't condemn anyone for that. You just happened to be wrong. And thank the Cycle that you were."

Homura stared quietly back at Madoka, eyes searching the girl's face.

"Is this appearance right now a part of your 'calming scene' too?" she asked at last.

Madoka closed her eyes and laughed. "I suppose I shouldn't be trying to baby you."

Her form glowed with a golden light, and now Homura was looking at the Goddess in all her glory. A long, white flowing dress spilled over the borders of the chair and onto the lilies at their feet. Her pink locks grew until they hung over the back of the chair. She closed her eyes, and when they reopened the irises were a brilliant yellow.

"After all," the Goddess continued, "You were always the one babying me, weren't you?"

Homura found herself smiling. "I don't think you need babying anymore."

Madoka smiled and shook her head in agreement. Homura looked back at the field of flowers.

"Did you create this all yourself?" she asked.

"I had to. Nothing can happen in this realm unless I permit it. I even have to schedule when it rains! It's absolutely horrid!"

They both giggled at that, and for a moment Homura felt like it was the old days again. When it had been her and Madoka and the rest of their friends living life together. What had been so fulfilling about those sun filled days?

Homura knew the answer already. She had loved those times because she hadn't been alone.

Madoka sighed and wiped a mirthful tear from her eye, then rested her head against Homura's shoulder.

"You know, for a Goddess I happen to be pretty selfish," she said. "Whenever you came close to the brink of death, there was always the small thought in my mind that I would finally get to have you for myself. Even right now, I could probably detach your soul from your mortal body and bring it to this realm. Your physical self if very weak right now."

Homura closed her eyes and felt the pinkette's hair tickle her ear.

"Why don't you, then?"

"Because you have people waiting for you, Homura. People waiting to love you and be loved by you. I can't stop that from happening. So for now, I'm going to let you go."

Madoka left Homura's shoulder and stood up, the white chair she had been sitting in fading out of sight. She clasped her hands behind her and smiled, and in that moment she looked truly majestic, among the glittering flowers and the perfect azure of the sky.

"We'll be together again one day," the Goddess promised. "This is but a temporary goodbye, you hear?"

She waved one gloved hand then, and the world started to recede from Homura's vision. The flowers closed up and retreated, the sky darkened, and Madoka herself became a tiny golden speck of light in the ether.

_Yes,_ Homura thought, as her head fell forward. _Just a temporary goodbye._

Those were the best kind.

* * *

><p>When Homura opened her eyes again, she was greeted with the gray ceiling of a hospital room.<p>

Her heart panicked in a moment of forgetfulness, briefly assuming that she was waking up from yet another time leap, yet another failed attempt to save Madoka. But no, that wasn't it. Those days were over.

She was tucked firmly into the bed she was laying in, the covers drawn up to her chin. A fat pillow was keeping her head at a slight angle. Looking down, she saw that she was dressed in a hospital gown and had an IV drip running into her arm. Somewhere by the window a machine was monitoring her heart rate, its slow, mechanical beeps filling the room with its gentle ambience.

Homura turned her head and squinted at the light poking through the blinds. It must have been around the afternoon. Blinking to dispel the distortion, she turned her head the other way.

That was when she saw her.

Kyouko was sitting upright on the edge of her own bed, which was situated just a few feet away from Homura's. She was in a gown too, and even had a bunch of bandages and stitches on her leg and face. They made eye contact in the quiet hospital room, and for a moment Homura was afraid to see hatred in those deep red eyes.

But the girl's irises filled with relief instead, and she opened her mouth hesitantly.

"H...Homura?"

"Kyouko," she rasped back, and suddenly Kyouko was tearing the IV drip out of her arm and running to Homura's bed, where the time traveler was sitting up just in time to pull the redhead into a tight hug. The redhead buried her face into Homura's chest and began to cry immediately, and Homura held her back and cried with her, not even caring that Kyouko rarely ever cried. It was that blessed moment of assurance, of relief and the belief that everything was going to be alright.

"I'm so sorry," Homura whispered harshly through her tears, squeezing Kyouko hard against her. "I'm so, so sorry…"

"God, Homura, you fucking idiot," Kyouko sobbed back, punching the girl's arm lightly. "You stupid, fucking idiot…"

"I almost lost everything," Homura said in a hushed voice, throat made thick by emotion. "I almost threw it all away, my memories, my love, everything. I was so scared. I'm sorry…"

"Don't apologize," Kyouko said roughly against the hem of Homura's gown. Reaching up, she grabbed the girl's face and forced her to make eye contact. "Just never, _ever_ do something like that again. I love you, Homura. I love you so fucking much. For you to just leave like that, I would...I-"

"I know. I'm sorry," Homura murmured, stroking the redhead's hair as she continued to bawl. "I'll never leave you again, Kyouko. I promise. We'll always be together."

There was a banging from outside in the hall, and suddenly a whole team of doctors was barging in and yelling at them to get back in bed and reconnect to their IVs, what the hell were they thinking? Were they crazy? A knot of nurses surrounded them and tried to pry Kyouko off of Homura, but the redhead kicked and yelled back at them. In the end they had to sedate her, and the nurses carried a limp Kyouko back to her bed for the night. After extracting a promise from Homura that they wouldn't act up again, the doctors left the room.

That night, Homura closed her eyes and slept with the knowledge that Kyouko was there with her. And at some point in the moon's cycle, the redhead left bed again and crawled into hers, wrapping her arms around Homura's middle and pulling her close.

And in that moment they were both happy.

Homura could feel in their shared soul.

* * *

><p>The days following that were mostly centered around recovering. Kyouko had sustained a number of cuts and bruises all over her body from the flying debris around the hill, and while those were no big deal for a magical girl, the real problem was the hole Homura had blasted in the redhead's right calf.<p>

Even with magic as a resource, it still took a significant amount of time for the injury to heal. It was a wound inflicted through supernatural means, after all. Homura apologized to Kyouko about a million times a day for the incident, and no matter how many times she was told that it was alright she still felt a crippling guilt over it. To the point that it kept her up at night, and Kyouko would have to kiss her and soothe her relentlessly until the time traveler fell asleep.

There was of course the issue of explaining the whole thing to the medical staff, but apparently Kiku was taking care of that. Something about a mini tornado descending upon the lake when they had been in the middle of a barbecue. It was a far fetched story at best, but Kiku somehow managed to persuade the doctors with the help of a little magic. She and Mami had sustained minor injuries during the incident, and called to tell Homura that they would visit as soon as the doctors allowed them to.

And then there was Four. The child had been left unconscious like the rest of them on the side of the hill, where she had been thrown by the powerful winds. In fact, the only reason why any of them had been found so soon was because the Mitakihara police department had arrived in full force intending to deal with a "terrorist attack." Homura managed to needle the doctors enough to learn that Four was being kept on a different floor, and that her injuries were not serious. Mishki had apparently visited every day and was scheduled to take the child home in a few days.

The news flooded Homura's heart with relief.

Besides finding all that out, however, the only other thing she really had to do was sit around and think. And there was a lot to think about, indeed.

She and Kyouko were now sharing the same soul. It was a difficult idea to grapple within one's mind, and the ramifications of such an idea were completely unknown to either of them in the beginning. Whenever they had a chance, deep into the night when even the most diligent of nurses were asleep, the two of them would transform and search for answers.

The first thing they discovered was that Homura truly was, indeed, cured. None of the fatigue that had plagued her being for so long existed any longer. It was as if a massive weight had been lifted from her preson, like she were the Greek titan Atlas and Zeus had come to tell her that she no longer had to hold the sky on her shoulders. She felt lighter and happier than she had ever been in her entire life, and she spent the majority of the first day marvelling over this fact. The only benefit of pain was the bliss that followed its alleviation.

A number of other changes had taken place as well. They could now sense each other's thoughts much more easily now; in fact, Homura had to put conscious effort into making sure that Kyouko couldn't hear literally everything that went through her head. Oftentimes one of them would get a craving for a certain time of food, usually Kyouko, and Homura would instinctively know that the redhead had a particular desire for fish that evening.

It was uncanny and odd in its own way, but strangely intimate too. Sometimes the redhead would lay in her bed and stare quietly at Homura, and the time traveler would blush when she interpreted the loving thoughts running through Kyouko's mind.

There might have been changes to their magic too, but there was no real way to test that within the confines of a hospital room surrounded by humans. The only thing Homura managed to confirm was that she had retained her ability to stop time. The rest remained a mystery.

Interestingly enough, both of them still retained their sense of self. They could feel each other's presence acutely now, but they still had a sense of individuality. Homura had her own thoughts and Kyouko had hers. Still, Homura quickly learned to cherish this new connection between them. Now she could finally say without being cheesy that their hearts were one.

* * *

><p>A week passed, and the doctors finally decided that the two of them were healthy enough to allow visitors. Kiku and Mami visited the very next morning, and Homura had to endure yet another round of the "are you insane? You had us worried sick!" talk. But after Kiku was done blowing off steam she collapsed onto Homura's bed and sobbed uncontrollably, and Homura could only hug her and apologize. Kyouko snorted and rolled over to take a nap.<p>

Eventually the brunette was all cried out, and she left the room rubbing her eyes and saying something about finding the bathroom. The door hissed shut behind her, and now it was just Homura and Mami in the room, with Kyouko snoring gently in her own bed.

The shield user stared out the window for a while, taking in the outside world. It was now the height of summer, and she could hear the distant shrieks of children playing outside. A cherry blossom was shedding its leaves by her window, and she followed a single petal in its descent until it disappeared beneath the window sill.

"I really made the wrong choice this time, didn't I?" she said at last, not looking at the blonde.

Mami smiled, occupying a stool by the bedside. She set her bag down and cupped her chin in her hand. "So you admit that you can't always be right?"

Homura smirked. "I'm rarely right, Mami. I just force things to go my way. But I guess I was in over my head this time."

The blonde sighed, shaking her head.

"You've always impressed me with how strong your will is, Homura. I never would have been able to even come up with a plan like that. But at the same time...I don't blame you. You were pushed into a corner, and you saw what you thought was your only way out. Even if it meant forgetting everything."

Homura turned her head away from the window, instead fixing her eyes on the ceiling. "Do you think things would have been alright, if I did go through with it? Would I have been alone in the end?"

Mami stayed quiet for a significant duration, and Homura looked back at the window, not expecting to get an answer. She knew the blonde didn't like hypotheticals. She didn't either, to tell the truth.

"I don't think you would have been alone. Because you would have had us," Mami said at last.

Homura hummed in understanding.

"But it wouldn't have been the same."

"Why not?"

"Because the rest of us would have felt alone instead," Mami said simply.

Homura hummed again, and this time it was in agreement.

It was funny. Her magic revolved around time, yet even she was caught off guard by what a single year or two could do to your life. She remembered a time where their roles had been reversed, when she had been the one visiting Mami in a hospital, not out of benevolence but disgust. So much had changed since then. And Homura could only feel shame about it.

"There was a time," Homura said out loud, "Long ago, when I called you fool for not wanting to be alone."

"Yes."

"I ridiculed you. I despised you. I thought you had your priorities all messed up. I thought your desire to love and be loved was going to get you killed one day."

Mami chuckled dryly. "Did you really?"

"I did." Homura finally turned her head and looked the blonde in the eye, face painted with regret. Mami blinked in surprise. "But now I understand why you feel that way. Being alone is so scary. It hurts and it's cold. I called you a fool, but in truth I was the real fool. I thought I could conquer the world alone. But I was wrong. So...I'm sorry. For doubting you."

Mami stared at her friend for a brief moment, then smiled and patted the girl's head gently.

"It was never anything so grandiose," she murmured. "I just wanted someone by my side, is all. But I'm glad you finally understand. And I'm glad we have each other."

Homura nodded quietly, and that was that.

"Oh, that reminds me," Mami said, picking up her bag and reached into it. Homura looked on curiously as the blonde pulled a small pile of things from the bag. "The police said they were done with their investigation, as well they should be. Kiku managed to...'convince' them like she did with the doctors." she used air quotes for emphasis, and Homura had to stifle a laugh.

"Anyways, your things were being held as evidence. They said I could give them back to you." Mami placed a small pile of dirty, tattered clothes on the bedside table.

Homura wrinkled her nose. "What exactly am I supposed to do with those?"

Mami shrugged. "I don't know. You can throw them out if you want to. But there's this, too. The police were a little more reluctant to let go of it, but I managed. I don't know what it says, but it looks important. I won't pry."

She placed a small piece of paper on top of the clothes, its edges charred and gray. Homura recognized it immediately, but didn't say anything about it.

"Thank you," she murmured. Mami nodded and stood up, throwing her bag over her shoulder.

"No problem. I'll grab Kiku and go home. You get some more rest." She turned and walked towards the door, stopping for a moment to roll her eyes at a snoring Kyouko. "Maybe pick up a few tips from this one, hm?" Homura laughed, and the blonde waved farewell before disappearing through the door.

She waited until she couldn't hear the girl's footsteps in the hall anymore, then snatched the letter into her hands. Unfolding the sheet of paper gingerly, for fear of damaging it any further, Homura's eyes took in the message she had left for herself in a different time.

_Dear me,_

_Today, I made a promise. _

_I made a promise to always stay by the side of those I love. Because as horrible as they can be, people need each other. And no one conquers the world alone._

_Sometimes the world is cold. Sometimes life tears everything apart and looks a little too much like death. But never forget how content you were in that moment, where the stars shone for you and her and we felt invincible. Because you only feel that way when you're with her. She is everything. Never forget that._

_All we are is everything we've done. Everything._

_Good or bad._

_Don't ever throw that away._

_-H_

* * *

><p>On the final day of Homura's hospital stay, the night before she was scheduled to be discharged, she got a surprise visit from an old friend.<p>

Well, she wouldn't exactly call him a friend. But she was trying to think in positive terms these days.

She was about to go to sleep near midnight when she saw him. Kyouko was asleep, having turned in a little earlier. Homura had just pulled the covers up to her chin when her eye caught the outline of a small silhouette sitting on her windowsill.

[_Long time no see,_] Kyubey greeted her, sitting back on his haunches and looking demurely at her. Homura frowned and climbed back out of the bed, pulling up a stool by the window and sitting by the alien.

"Long time no see, Kyubey. Up to no good as usual, I assume?"

The little white animal flicked his ears. [_Nonsense. I am simply playing my natural role in the virtuous fight against entropy._]

"Uh huh. Looks like you haven't changed one bit."

The alien shrugged and curled up on the windowsill, resting his head on his paws. Homura put her own arms on the sill and rested her head on them, indulging herself by playing with Kyubey's ringlets for a brief moment. Outside, the moon bathed Mitakihara in a pale glow.

"Why are you here, Kyubey?" she asked at last. "Do you need something from me? Where were you all this time, anyway?"

[_This area has been purged of demons for the past several months, and will remain so for a number of years in the future,_] Kyubey replied. [_There is no reason for me to stay assigned to an area under such conditions. I've been roaming other areas of your country until now._]

"Then why come back?"

Kyubey flicked his ears again. [_We observed a significant magical phenomenon taking place here several days ago. I knew that it had to involve you somehow, and since I am the most familiar with the puella magi in Mitakihara, I was ordered to investigate._]

"Oh." Homura stared absentmindedly down at the city below them, scratching Kyubey's head with a finger. "So what have you found out so far?"

[_Nothing, unfortunately._] There seemed to be genuine frustration in the alien's voice. [_You and Kyouko are the only two people who could possibly tell me anything of substance. I could approach Mami or Hanezawa-san, but neither of them trust me very much._]

Homura snorted. "And I do?"

[_You have a track record of being more reasonable._ _So, would you mind enlightening me?_]

Homura eyed Kyubey nervously. In the past, she had always been careful of how much information she could divulge to the alien. After all, the Incubators had an annoying habit of taking little tidbits of information and turning them into huge messes that they liked to call "a step forward in the fight against entropy."

But no matter how she thought about it, she couldn't think of any way that this could be turned against them. And besides, she was tired. The days of calculating every action were past.

"Long story short, Kyouko and I share the same soul now," Homura said at last. "My soul was damaged, and I made a desperate move to save myself...then Kyouko came rushing in and somehow pulled it off. I can't really explain it myself. It must be somehow related to grief sharing, but otherwise I've got no idea."

[_Incredible,_] Kyubey murmured, pacing back and forth on the windowsill. [_Then your powers must both have become significantly augmented. If we could deploy that kind of enhanced firepower against demons, our efficiency rate-_]

"Kyouko and I don't plan on returning to the fight any time soon," Homura chided, bopping the alien lightly on the head. "We've had enough for a lifetime."

[_But your power would be unprecedented!_] Kyubey insisted. [_Ordinary grief sharing already makes puella magi significantly stronger. At your level, you would be unstoppable. Why wouldn't you want that kind of power?_]

"I guess you and I are just made of different stuff," Homura sighed. She couldn't really get mad at Kyubey's ignorance anymore, either. She was tired of doing that too. "I want to leave that chapter of my life behind. No more fighting."

Kyubey lashed his tail. [_This safe haven of yours won't last forever, you know. The demons will remain eradicated for a little less than a decade at most, and two or three years at worst. Leaving the city at all will mean facing demons as well. This won't last._]

"We'll burn that bridge when we get to it," Homura yawned. It was getting late.

Kyubey cocked his head to the side.

[_You really won't change your mind, then?_]

Homura smiled back. "No."

The little alien stood up and approached the edge of the window sill, his long ears floating in the night breeze. [_Then I suppose my being here has lost its significance._]

"I suppose."

[_Goodbye, Akemi Homura. I would wish you well, but things usually don't turn out that way for your kind, do they?_]

And then he was gone, melting into the night like some white spectre. Homura rolled her eyes and made to close the window. Kyubey just had to be that way until the end.

Still, she couldn't help feeling a little something as she watched the tiny alien figure leaping away from the hospital building. It felt like she really was saying goodbye to a chapter of her life forever. Her very existence as a puella magi had begun with Kyubey, and now it was ending the same way.

"Goodbye, Kyubey," Homura mouthed quietly, before going to sleep.

"I wish you well."

She could say that, unlike Kyubey, because she believed it. She believed she and Kyouko would turn out just fine.

And that wasn't a wish. It was reality.

* * *

><p>Kyouko had apparently promised to buy Kanade lunch, and that little promise ended up turning into an entire scheduled party. Kanade, Seiyaku, and the rest of the Buzzers were all invited. Thalia was sent an invitation as well, but it was declined. Still, the girl called to tell Kyouko she was glad everything had worked out.<p>

"_It feels a little bit like you did it for both of us, you know?_" Thalia had said through the phone.

"I don't know how to thank you," Kyouko had said back. "Are you sure you don't want to come?"

"_No, I'm fine. It makes me happy just knowing that Homura's all right. I'm trying to make up for everything I've done, you know, little by little."_

So that was that. Thalia wouldn't be coming, but everyone else was going to be there. Mishki, the twins, Mami and Kiku, and of course Homura. They were going to have a good long party with beer in Mami's apartment, mainly because it happened to be the biggest. The celebration was scheduled to start at two in the afternoon.

Now if only they had remembered to set an alarm.

"We're going to be late," was the first thing Homura grumbled when she opened her eyes, her nose squashed against Kyouko's bare collarbone. They were both naked beneath the sheets of their bed, back in their apartment. A simple, innocent tryst the previous night had become less and less simple or innocent when they both realized that sharing a soul made sex a _lot_ more interesting.

"Not my fault," Kyouko grumbled back, sitting up in the bed. Homura crawled off her lover and yawned, holding a hand up to her mouth to stifle it. She blinked when the redhead suddenly leaned in and kissed her, long and sweet.

"What was that for?" she whispered when they parted, blushing when she saw the way Kyouko was looking at her. No matter how many times she saw them, Homura was always entranced by Kyouko's eyes. They told entire odysseys, not just stories.

"Nothing." The redhead grinned and nuzzled her lover's neck. "I just wanted to do that." Leaving those words hanging in the air, Kyouko lowered her head and started absentmindedly teasing Homura's collarbone with her mouth.

Homura shuddered as the girl's lips ghosted across her skin. It felt like the redhead was kissing both of them at once. They would definitely have to experiment extensively with that later, but right now they had to get going. Who wanted to be late to their own party?

"Later," she said sternly, putting a finger to Kyouko's nose and pushing her away. The redhead pouted, running her hands up and down Homura's sides in a dangerously convincing manner.

"But you look good enough to _eat_, Homura. Can't a have just a little bite of you?"

"You already had your meal," Homura chided. She slipped out of bed and made her way to the bathroom, her hips swaying enticingly behind her. "And if you don't hurry up, you won't be getting seconds."

Kyouko blinked as the girl's hidden meaning dawned on her, and she scrambled to get ready for the day.

* * *

><p>"And we're here!" Kyouko yelled triumphantly, as the two of them entered Mami's apartment. Homura heard a massive cheer resonate from inside the building, and when she looked in she couldn't help smiling.<p>

It seemed like everyone who had promised to come was there. All the Buzzers, Kanade, Mami, Kiku, Mishki and the twins. It was only roughly ten people, but to Homura they were the world. And seeing them all in one place made her heart smile so much it hurt.

She stepped into the room, and everyone suddenly went quiet when they saw her. She shifted about nervously, wondering if she had done something wrong.

Seiyaku was the first to step forward. "Homura," she said seriously, holding a hand out. She shook it gingerly. "I heard everything from these guys. I can't believe you would try to go through with something like that."

Homura bowed her head. "I know. It was stupid of me."

Seiyaku smiled. "Don't worry about it. What matters is that you're both okay. What I _am_ worried about, however," she said, abruptly turning and plucking Kanade out of her seat, "Is that a certain someone had the gall to bring someone into the Church behind my back!"

Kanade squealed and struggled to free herself from Seiyaku's grip, but it was no use. "I said I was sorry! I had no choice, didn't I? It was to help Kyouko!"

"Yes, but you could just have told me! I would have done everything to help you two! Heck, I'd even pay the train fare if I could!"

They all laughed at that, and the mood finally descended into something lighter. Everyone formed into small groups as they began to socialize, catching up on this and that over drinks. There was plenty of alcohol around, and though it was obvious that Mishki was the only one present who was legally allowed to drink, Mami surprisingly didn't say anything.

The Buzzers ended up pulling Kyouko into a rowdy conversation, so Homura wandered over to the couch and sat down by herself. She poured herself half a cup of beer, not really knowing if she was actually going to drink it or not. She was in the middle of suspiciously sniffing the stuff when someone entered the edge of her vision.

It was Mishki. Four was sitting behind her, eyes flitting nervously between the two of them. It seemed that Five was off trying to get Kyouko's attention. Homura gulped and set her solo cup down on the table, bracing herself for the full brunt of the guide's anger.

"I didn't have the chance to visit you before you were discharged," Mishki said, her voice flat and emotionless. "I was too busy tending to Four. How are you feeling?"

"Um...I'm fine," Homura said nervously. She was feeling even better than fine, actually, but this didn't seem like the place to brag.

"Four was worried sick about you, you know," Mishki continued, making Homura cringe. "She spent half her time asking to see you. Not to mention the fits Five threw thinking that her sister was dead. Am I getting through to you at all?"

Swallowing again, Homura nodded vehemently.

"Good," the older woman said blandly.

She pulled Homura into a big bear hug.

"Ugh, I'm just so glad you're okay!" Mishki exclaimed, all the venom gone from her voice. Homura blinked in confusion as the guide pulled back, putting her hands on the time traveler's cheeks. "Don't get me wrong, I'm still hideously angry that you went behind my back while teaching Four. Not to mention that you basically abducted her from my apartment."

"Technically speaking, it wasn't abduction," Four pointed out. "I went along with her willingly."

Mishki silenced her with a look.

"What I'm trying to say is," she continued, "I'm glad you're okay. Even if you did pull some crazy shit to get there."

Homura smiled sheepishly. "Yeah...sorry about that?"

Mishki sighed and shook her head. "This whole week had been murder on me." She reached over and took Homura's solo cup, downing the entire thing in one gulp. Then she scrunched her nose and stood up. "What is this weak stuff? Don't we have anything stronger? Hey, Mami!"

The woman marched off in search of more potent alcohol, leaving Homura and Four to themselves.

"Well," the child said, "I can't say any of this has gone according to plan."

Homura burst out laughing.

"No, not at all," she agreed.

Four leaned against Homura's side. "You know, I'm kind of glad it didn't work," she said. "I didn't want to be the one responsible for destroying your memories. I couldn't bear to do it. You're the one who taught me how to do so many things, after all."

"I think you would have managed, somehow."

"And why's that?"

"Because you and I are very similar," Homura said simply. "We're made of similar stuff."

Four smirked. "But there is one fundamental difference between us."

"Hm?"

"You've learned what it means to be human, Homura. I haven't. Not yet, anyway. But I intend to learn."

The time traveler ruffled Four's hair, a wry smile on her face.

"While I support the idea, I would recommend getting a different teacher this time. One that won't blow up a lake."

"You're hilarious."

"I try."

* * *

><p>The rest of the party proceeded as planned, which was to say that a lot of unexpected things happened. Still, some of Homura's expectations were fulfilled; Mishki got mad roaring drunk within the first hour, and started complaining about her love life to a rather uncomfortable looking Kanade. The Buzzers started up an intense game of poker that they were somehow playing with the cards facing the wrong way. Kiku had a fair amount to drink herself, and actually set off a round of loud cheers when she declared her undying love for Mami and dragged her into their bedroom. Only Homura knew that the brunette ended up falling asleep on the floor instead.<p>

But they ran out of booze eventually, and it was rather difficult to hold an animated conversation when you were intoxicated. In fact, by the end of the night only she and Mami were completely sober. The blonde had simply sighed and called cabs for everyone, sending them off one by one while thanking them for coming.

"When did we become friends with all these party animals?" she muttered to herself. Her hair was a little mussed up, and her clothes were at odd angles on her body. It seemed that Kiku had made a little progress on Mami before knocking out.

Homura dug Kyouko out of the corner and hoisted the redhead onto her back, piggyback style. The girl's head lolled around in a drunken circle, as she murmured something about monkeys playing baseball on swings. Homura rolled her eyes and carried her towards the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Mami said, before gently closing the door.

"See you tomorrow," Homura mouthed back.

There was a certain comfort in being able to say that.

* * *

><p>A few weeks later, the temperature began to drop as fall made its first appearance. It was on a cold chilly day fit for this season that Homura crawled out of bed, leaving Kyouko to sleep in to her heart's desire. She enjoyed a quiet cup of coffee by herself, then meandered about, searching for something to do. When she wasn't with Kyouko, things tended to get bland really fast.<p>

Maybe she would go for a walk.

Homura dug her coat out of her closet and shrugged it on, and was about to open the door when something occurred to her. Leaving the door where it was, she made her way to the back of the apartment where the basement was. Pushing the door aside, she walked down into the dusty confines of the room. It took her a few minutes to find it, but she succeeded in the end. Five minutes later, she walked out of the apartment with Junko's chess pieces stuck into her coat pocket. She didn't know why she needed them, but she took them anyway. She had been keeping them this whole time.

Once outside, Homura made an immediate bee line for the hill with the frozen chessboards, where she and Junko had played each other so long ago. It was stupid, she knew, but she had the strange conviction that the woman would be there. It was a ridiculous notion, given how busy she knew Junko was, but she kept walking anyway. Her breath came out in thick puffs, and her coat ruffled slightly in the wind. All around her, the trees were shedding their leaves.

She reached the base of the hill within the hour. Taking in a deep breath, she began to climb, focusing her entire mind on the task. She could have just transformed and flown to the top, but something stopped her from doing so. She might be seen, after all. But the bigger reason was that she wanted to earn this, somehow.

After a long and arduous walk, Homura finally made it to the top of the hill. It was even colder up here, and the time traveler drew her coat a little tighter around her body as the wind swept past her. Taking a few more steps forward, her eyes sought out the chess tables where she had sought advice in the past.

Amazingly, Junko was there. The business mogul was standing with her back to the hill, looking out past the little wooden fence and at the lake. It wasn't frozen over this time, but the scene matched Homura's earlier memory so closely that it made her stop in her tracks, just a few yards behind Junko.

"Well, don't just stand there, Homura," the woman said, not even having to turn around. "Are you going to join me or not?"

Smiling knowingly to herself, Homura walked up to the fence until she was shoulder to shoulder with Junko Kaname. She peered over the cliff drop standing in front of them, and the shivering pines below and the lake beyond. It really was like she had stepped back in time.

"Are you here because you needed a break?" Homura asked, slipping her hands into her pockets.

Junko smiled. "Maybe. How about you, Homura? Have you come to seek my advice yet again?"

Somehow the woman always managed to return the ball to her court. Homura supposed that was part of what made Junko so formidable, in her eyes.

"Not really," she admitted. "I just wanted to return these."

She pulled the box of chess pieces out of her pocket and presented it to the older woman. Junko gasped in delight, reaching out and taking the box from Homura's hands. "Oh, wonderful! I've been wondering where I misplaced these. I must have left them here during our last game by mistake."

Homura chuckled. "You don't seem like someone who makes mistakes."

But Junko raised one finger and wagged it in the air. "Everyone makes mistakes, Homura. Even me."

"I don't know if that's comforting or worrying."

"Take it as you will."

They remained silent for a while, enjoying the view. Homura closed her eyes and tried to remember if the air had always felt so clean in Mitakihara.

"You know," Junko said at last, turning the box over in her hands, "When we first met at this place you seemed so utterly lost. You had so many questions floating about in your brain, and you could only bring yourself to ask me a few of them. I left thinking that I was rather worried about you. But you're different now. Something's changed. I imagine things turned out the way you wanted them to?"

Homura looked out over the city, the sky, and thought about her girlfriend sleeping soundly in their apartment, her friends waiting to see them later today, her allies in Kazamino, and the girl who was always watching from the heavens.

And in that one, single moment, Homura thought that she was no longer alone.

"Yes," she said, smiling almost goofily to herself. "Yes, I suppose you could say that."

Junko offered up her own gamely smile, opening the box and shuffling its contents into her open palm.

"I always like seeing my rivals grow. What do you say, Homura? Another game, for old time's sake?"

Homura looked at the pawns and kings sitting in Junko's palm and thought about the blind plays she had made during their first game, how lost she had been. That game hadn't been unlike her life until this point. Always too caught up in things that were irrelevant, and losing sight of what truly mattered.

She also remembered acutely that she had played most of her pawns on their own, without support, somehow deluding herself into thinking that they could topple the king from his thrown all on their own. In chess, as in life, there were different roles and sacrifices to be made.

But never once was one piece capable of doing it all.

_You can't take on the world by yourself._ Homura thought this as she and Junko took their seats at the chess table, carefully arranging their pieces. Sometimes hurting yourself meant hurting the people around you too. She had finally realized that.

Love wasn't just something you gave. You got it back, too.

It felt like she had been fighting all this time to understand that.

Junko set her final piece into place. With a flick of her hand, the game began.

And this time, Homura won.

**THE END**

* * *

><p><strong>Wow. Wow, I actually finished it.<strong>

**This 400,000 word monstrosity is finally finished.**

**When I first started writing the opening chapter of a Madoka Magica fanfic, I didn't really have a plot in mind. I just wanted to splurge out a ten chapter thing to satisfy my void after finishing the show. But now it's become so much more, and almost two years and 36 chapters later this long story has finally come to an end.**

**Given the fact that this story has changed along with my ideas for the past two years, not everything was planned from the start. In fact, an actual plan didn't really start until the beginning of Part 2. But I managed to find a common theme among all of it, and that was the horror of being alone and the value in being able to rely on others, a key theme in the show itself. I hope I've managed to tie it up nicely for you guys.**

**A huge, huge thank you to literally anyone who reads all the way up to this point. You guys are seriously awesome for reading so much of my work, and I genuinely appreciate it. This story has been a part of my life for half of my high school years, and I'm finally closing the final chapter on it.**

**As for my plans for the future, I'll probably be taking a really long break from fanfiction, or even creative writing in general. I want to try writing something original next time, and that takes a lot of time to think about. If you're interested at all, you can check me out on FictionPress someday. I go by the same name.**

**And as always, thank you so much for reading.**

**~Banshee**


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